University  of  California  •  Berkeley 
JACK  MARTIN  DAVIS  MEMORIAL  FUND 


2    •  ,- 


MEMORIAL 


OP 


URIEL    CROCKER. 


BORN,  IOTH  SEPTEMBER  1796. 
DIED,  19iH  JULY  1887. 


PREFACE. 


following  reminiscences  of  URIEL  CROCKER 
were  taken  down  from  his  lips  by  members  of 
his  family  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  and  have  been 
written  out  by  his  oldest  son  in  order  to  preserve  for 
his  father's  descendants  the  stories  that  their  ances- 
tor loved  to  tell  of  the  events  of  his  youth  and  middle 
age,  —  that  thereby  those  descendants  may  gain  some 
idea,  though  an  inadequate  one,  of  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  their  ancestor,  of  the  habits  and  manners  of 
the  time  in  which  he  lived,  and  of  the  honest  and 
untiring  labor  and  the  active  and  clear-sighted  intelli- 
gence by  the  aid  of  which  he  accumulated  the  prop- 
erty which  he  hoped  would  remain  through  many 
generations  in  the  possession  of  his  descendants  to 
ease  and  cheer  their  journey  through  life. 

BOSTON,  June,  1891. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAQB 
MR.  CROCKER  AT  THE  AGE  OF  THIRTY.    From  a  portrait 

painted  in  1827  by  James  Frothingham 12 

MRS.  CROCKER  AND  HER  ELDEST  Sox.     From  a  portrait 

painted  in  1838  by  James  Frothingham 14 

COL.  JONATHAN  GLOVER.    From  an  original  in  pastel .     .       18 

MRS    ABIGAIL   GLOVER,  WIFE  OF   COLONEL   GLOVER. 

From  an  original  in  pastel 20 

COLONEL  GLOVER'S  HOUSE  IN  MARBLEHEAD.     From  a 

photograph  taken  in  1890  by  Edgar  Crocker  ....       22 

MR  CROCKER  AT  THE  AGE  OF  FIFTY.     From  a  daguerro- 

type. 28 

MR  CROCKER  AT  THE  AGE  OF  SIXTY-FIVE.     Enlarged 

from  a  small  photograph 32 

MR.  CROCKER  AT  THE  AGE   OF  EIGHTY-SIX.     From  a 

photograph  by  James  Notman .       38 

MR.  CROCKER  AND  HIS  PARTNER,  MR.  BREWSTER.    From 

a  photograph  taken  in  1886  by  James  Notman      ...       42 

THE  HOUSE  IN  MARBLEHEAD  IN  WHICH  MR.  CROCKER 
WAS  BORN.  From  a  photograph  taken  In  1890  by  his 
grandson,  Edgar  Crocker 48 


viii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAG* 

THE  HOUSE  ON  LYXDE  STREET,  BOSTON,  IN  WHICH  MR. 
CROCKER  RESIDED  FROM  1830  to  1847.  From  a  photo- 
graph taken  in  1890  by  his  grandson,  Edgar  Crocker  .  54 

THE  HOUSE  ON  SOMERSET  STREET,  BOSTON,  IN  WHICH 
MR.  CROCKER  RESIDED  FROM  1847  to  1885.  From  a 
photograph  taken  in  1885.  The  house  is  the  one  next 
above  that  on  the  steps  of  which  two  ladies  are  standing  60 

THE  HOUSE  ON  COMMONWEALTH  AVENUE,  BOSTON,  IN 
WHICH  MR.  CROCKER  RESIDED  DURING  THE  LAST 
TWO  YEARS  OF  HIS  LIFE.  From  a  photograph  taken 
in  1890  by  his  grandson,  Edgar  Crocker  * 66 

MR.  ELIAS  HASKELL  AT  THE  AGE  OF  SEVENTY-SEVEN. 
From  a  miniature  on  ivory  painted  in  1845  by  Alonzo 
Hartwell 120 

MRS.   LUCY   HASKELL    AT   THE   AGE    OF   SIXTY-NINE 
From  a  miniature  on  ivory  painted  in  1845  by  Alonzo 
Hartwell 122 


Bemfatecences 


OF 


URIEL    CROCKER. 


REMINISCENCES  AND  FACTS  RELATIVE  TO 
HIS  ANCESTORS. 


MY  father,  URIEL  CROCKER,  was  born  in  Barnstable 
in  1768.  When  a  young  man  he  came  to  Bos- 
ton and  there  learned  the  trade  of  a  hatter  from 
Joseph  Eaton,  —  a  relative  of  whom,  Mary  Eaton,  the 
daughter  of  Israel  Eaton,  of  Marblehead,  he  married 
for  his  first  wife.  After  his  marriage  he  went  to 
Marblehead  to  live.  By  this  wife  he  had  one  child, 
who  lived  but  a  short  time,  and  his  wife  herself  died 
within  a  year  after  their  marriage. 

My  mother,  who  was  my  father's  second  wife,  was 
Mary  James,  the  daughter  and  only  child  of  Cap- 
tain Richard  James,  of  Marblehead.  My  father  and 
mother  were  married  in  February,  1792,  and  they 
had  eight  children.  Of  these,  Richard  James,  who 
died  early,  and  Mary  were  older  than  myself ;  and 
the  younger  ones  were  Deborah  (who  married  Wil- 
liam Phillips,  of  Lynn),  Richard  James,  Josiah,  Abi- 
gail, Francis  Boardman,  and  Elizabeth  James,  the 
last  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  My  father  died 


12  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

April  12,  1813,  when  forty-five  years  of  age.  My 
mother  died  August  27, 1811,  when  thirty-seven  years 
of  age. 

My  father's  father  was  JOSIAH  CROCKER  of  Barn- 
stable,  who  was  born  Dec.  30,  1744,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1765.  On  October  6,  in  the 
year  of  his  graduation,  he  married  Deborah  Davis, 
a  daughter  of  Daniel  Davis,  Judge  of  Probate  for 
Barnstable  County.  This  Deborah  Davis  was  a  half 
sister  of  Daniel  Davis,  Solicitor-General  of  Massachu- 
setts. After  my  grandfather's  death,  which  occurred 
on  May  4,  1780,  when  he  was  thirty-five  years  of 
age,  his  widow  married  Benjamin  Gorham.  Josiah 
Crocker's  children  were,  besides  my  father,  Deborah, 
who  married  John  Lothrop,  Mehitable,  who  married 
Joseph  Parker,  Josiah,  who  died  young,  and  Robert, 
who  was  afterwards  a  brass  worker  on  Union  Street, 
Boston,  and  who  left  no  descendants. 

My  grandfather  was  a  school-teacher  in  Barnstable. 
He  was  a  great  admirer  of  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost," 
from  which  book  he  took  the  name  of  Uriel,1  which 
he  gave  to  my  father.  In  1775  or  1776  he  wrote 
a  pamphlet,  entitled  an  "  Indian  Dream,  drempt  on 
Cape  Cod,"  which  was  intended  as  a  satire  upon  the 
leading  men  of  the  county,  particularly  upon  the  jus- 
tices of  the  Court  of  Common  Sessions.  He  caused 

1  Mr.  Crocker  always  pronounced  his  own  name  U-rl'-el,  but 
in  "  Paradise  Lost  "  the  pronunciation  U'-ri-el  is  evidently  called 
for  by  the  metre.  See  Paradise  Lost,  book  iii.,  lines  648,  654,  and 
690;  book  iv.,  lines  555,  577,  and  589. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  13 

several  hundred  copies  of  this  pamphlet  to  be  printed 
in  Boston ;  and  one  night,  after  people  had  gone  to 
bed,  he  and  his  sister  distributed  them  through  the 
town  of  Barnstable.  They  made  a  great  sensation, 
but  all  efforts  to  discover  the  author  were  unavailing. 
His  only  confidant  was  his  sister.  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  find  a  copy  of  this  pamphlet,  but  without 
success. 

My  great-grandfather,  the  father  of  Josiah  Crocker, 
was  CORNELIUS  CROCKER,  of  Barnstable,  known  in  his 
life-time  as  Nell  Crocker.  He  was  born  March  23, 
1704,  and  lived  in  the  old  house  in  Barnstable  that 
was  recently  occupied  by  Mrs.  Scudder,  the  sister  of 
Mr.  Barney  Davis.  He  married  Lydia  Jenkins,  and 
his  children,  besides  Josiah,  were  Joseph,  Lydia  (who 
married  a  Sturgis),  Cornelius,  and  Sarah,  who  married 
Capt.  David  Lawrence.  All  of  these,  except  the  last, 
were  older  than  my  grandfather.  My  great-grand- 
father was  a  man  of  importance  in  Barnstable,  and 
owned  considerable  property  there.  He  died  Dec. 
12, 1784,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  His  wife,  my  great- 
grandmother,  died  Aug.  5, 1773,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight. 

My  great-grandfather  was  the  great-grandson  of 
WILLIAM  and  ALICE  CROCKER,  who  were  married  in 
Scituate  in  1636,  and  moved  to  Barnstable  in  1639. 
They  were  the  ancestors  of  the  numerous  Crockers 
who  have  lived  in  and  near  that  town,  or,  originat- 
ing there,  have  scattered  themselves  throughout  the 
United  States.  William  Crocker,  together  with  his 


14  MEMORIAL  OF   URIEL   CROCKER. 

brother  John,  who  left  no  descendants,  probably  came 
to  this  country  in  1634,  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Exeter,  in  Devonshire,  England,  where  the  Crockers 
were  an  old  English  family,  if  we  may  believe  an  old 
saw,  which  has  been  preserved,  to  this  effect,  — 

"  The  Croker,  Crewys,  and  Copplestone, 
When  the  Conqueror  came  were  at  home."  1 

My  mother's  father,  RICHARD  JAMES,  was  a  sea 
captain,  and  my  mother  was  his  only  child.  He  died 
in  1832,  aged  about  ninety,  on  the  day  before  that  on 
which  my  oldest  son  was  born.  His  mother,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Nimblet,  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety- 
eight.  I  recollect  her  very  well.  She  was  a  great 
story-teller,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Bible. 
She  used  to  wear  a  red  riding-hood  and  a  red  cloak, 
and  was  always  going  out  visiting.  The  wife  of 
Captain  James  was  Mary,  a  daughter  of  Col.  Jona- 
than Glover. 

In  the  time  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  Capt. 
James  was  commissioned  by  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts  to  go  to  Martinique  to  get  firearms, 
powder,  and  saltpetre,  taking  out  a  load  of  lumber. 
I  have  his  original  commission,  and  also  a  statement 
of  his  voyage,  made  out  and  sworn  to  by  him  with 
the  purpose,  I  think,  of  obtaining  a  pension.  I  ob- 

1  The  name  "  Crocker  "  probably  signified  originally  a  maker 
of  crocks.  The  word  "  crock  "  is  now  almost  out  of  use,  but  is 
still  preserved  in  "  crockery."  In  the  same  way  the  name  "  Pot- 
ter "  signified  a  maker  of  pots,  "  pottery  "  being  the  corresponding 
word  to  "  crockery." 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  15 

tained  these  papers  from  the  files  at  Washington, 
having  been  allowed  to  take  them  by  Franklin  Pierce, 
when  he  was  President.  One  of  Captain  James's  ves- 
sels was  named  the  "  Union,"  another  the  "  Cham- 
pion," and  another  the  "  Comte  d'Estaing."  On  his 
first  voyage  on  this  business  he  was  chased  by  the 
British  and  forced  to  run  his  vessel  ashore  at  Prov- 
incetown.  The  British  sent  their  boats  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  vessel,  but  he  had  left  a  candle  burning 
in  the  cabin,  and  they  were  afraid  to  board  the  vessel, 
thinking  that  the  light  which  they  saw  might  be  that 
of  a  slow  match  that  was  to  blow  the  vessel  up. 
Captain  James  went  to  Truro  and  got  a  cannon  and 
drove  the  British  away,  and  as  the  vessel  had  gone 
ashore  at  low  tide,  she  afterwards  floated  off  when 
the  tide  rose,  and  he  got  her  safely  into  Boston.  On 
another  occasion  Captain  James  was  chased  into 
Chesapeake  Bay,  and  again  was  compelled  to  run  his 
vessel  ashore,  but  again  he  saved  his  cargo. 

When  in  Philadelphia,  after  the  voyage  last  men- 
tioned, he  bought  a  horse  for  the  purpose  of  riding 
him  to  Boston.  After  he  bought  the  horse,  he  took 
him  out  to  try  him,  and  happened  to  get  upon  a  race 
course,  where,  as  the  horse  had  been  trained  for  rac- 
ing, he  started  off  around  the  track  and  ran  away, 
going  round  the  course  three  times  with  the  Captain 
clinging  to  his  neck.  Captain  James  afterwards  rode 
this  horse  to  Boston,  stopping  at  West  Point  to  see 
General  Glover,  and  seeing  Washington  also.  I  have 
often  ridden  behind  that  horse.  My  grandfather  often 


16  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

took  me  up  to  Boston  with  him  in  the  old  chaise. 
The  horse  used  to  take  us  up  in  two  hours.  At  every 
little  hill  my  grandfather  would  say  to  me,  "  Come, 
boy,  get  out  and  stretch  your  legs." 

On  another  voyage,  when  carrying  a  cargo  of  lum- 
ber, my  grandfather  was  taken  by  the  British  and 
carried  into  Plymouth,  England.  His  crew  were  put 
into  prison,  but  he  obtained  permission  to  go  to  Paris. 
There  he  became  acquainted  with  Benjamin  Franklin 
and  John  Adams.  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  less 
than  twenty  years  old,  was  there  as  a  clerk  to  his 
father.  Franklin  and  Adams  invited  Captain  James 
to  dine  with  them  every  Friday,  and  at  one  of  these 
dinners  he  became  acquainted  with  a  Mr.  Langdon,1 
of  Portsmouth,  N.  H..  a  man  of  considerable  wealth, 
who  wished  to  get  home  to  America.  Captain  James 
was  finally  employed  by  this  Mr.  Langdon  to  go  to 
Nantes  and  build  a  vessel  to  take  him  home.  He 
had  the  vessel  built,  and  manned  and  victualled  her. 
A  place,  known  only  to  himself  and  to  Mr.  Langdon, 
was  built  under  the  cabin  floor  to  put  bars  of  gold  in. 
The  voyage  was  a  successful  one  and  they  arrived 
safely  in  Marblehead  harbor.  After  that  time  Mr. 
Langdon  and  Captain  James  were  accustomed,  about 
once  in  two  years,  to  make  each  other  visits  lasting  a 
week  or  two.  On  this  voyage  Captain  James  brought 
home  with  him  a  Frenchman,  who  afterwards  lived 
with  him  for  many  years  as  a  cook. 

i  This  was  probably  Woodbury  Langdon,  a  brother  of  John 
Langdon,  who  was  at  one  time  governor  of  New  Hampshire. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER.  17 

Captain  James  lost  his  property  in  the  latter  part 
of  his  life.  He  loaned  money  to  his  cousin,  Benja- 
min Eaton,  who  was  unable  to  repay  it,  and  to  Samuel 
Bartoll,  who  cheated  him  by  giving  him  bad  security. 
It  was  on  an  execution  against  Mr.  Bartoll  that  he 
acquired  title  to  "  Bartoll's  Head."  so  called,  which  I 
have  recently  given  to  the  town  of  Marblehead  for  a 
public  park,  and  which  in  honor  of  my  gift  has  been 
named  "  Crocker  Park." 

The  father  of  my  grandmother,  Mary  James,  was 
JONATHAN  GLOVER,  who  was  born  in  Salem  on  June 
13, 1731,  and  who  married  Abigail  Burnham  on  Oct. 
10,  1748.  Abigail  Burnham  was  the  daughter  of 
Job  Burnham,  of  Ipswich  (born  1680),  who  married 
Hannah  Martin  in  1719,  and  whose  children  were 
Abigail,  Thomas,  Edward,  John,  Robert,  and  Benja- 
min. An  uncle  of  Abigail  Burnham,  one  Benjamin 
Burnham,  is  said  to  have  accumulated  in  India  a 
large  fortune  which  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  be 
waiting  in  the  Bank  of  England  for  his  heirs  to  come 
and  claim  it.  Jonathan  Glover  was  a  colonel  in  the 
State  militia,  and  a  brother  of  Gen.  John  Glover,  of 
Revolutionary  fame.  He  had  two  other  brothers, 
Samuel  and  Daniel.  The  old  sword  and  the  English 
fusee,  now  in  my  possession,  belonged  to  Gen.  John 
Glover,  who  gave  them  to  my  father,  saying  that  he 
gave  them  to  him  as  he  was  the  only  military  man  in 
the  family.  The  sword  was  General  Glover's  dress 
sword,  and  the  artist,  Martin  Milmore,  copied  it  for 
the  sword  of  the  statue  of  General  Glover  that  now 

2 


18  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

stands  in  Commonwealth  Avenue.  The  fusee  was 
taken  by  General  Glover  from  a  British  officer  at  the 
battle  of  Saratoga.  The  original  lock  of  the  gun  was 
lost,  and  I  had  a  new  lock  made  for  it.  The  old 
pastel  portraits  in  my  parlor  are  those  of  Jonathan 
Glover  and  of  Abigail  Burnham,  his  wife. 

Col.  Jonathan  Glover  began  life  as  a  hatter,  but  he 
afterwards  gave  up  that  business  and  went  into  com- 
merce, in  which  he  was  very  successful.  He  owned 
a  wharf  in  Marblehead  at  the  foot  of  what  is  now 
called  State  Street.  Near  this  wharf  Floyd  Ireson 
was  tarred  and  feathered.  Colonel  Glover  owned 
vessels  which  sailed  to  the  West  India  Islands  and  to 
Bilbao  and  other  places  in  Spain.  He  owned  a  house 
in  Marblehead  on  the  street  which  led  to  his  wharf, 
and  he  had  another  house  about  two  miles  from  the 
centre  of  the  town,  where  he  resided  in  summer.  At 
this  place,  which  was  on  the  road  to  Boston  where 
the  road  to  Salem  branches  off,  he  had  a  farm,  and 
when  I  was  a  boy  I  frequently  went  to  stay  there. 
The  house  in  the  town  is  still  standing.  It  was  a 
large  square  house,  about  seventy  feet  from  the  street, 
with  a  beautiful  lawn  in  front  of  it,  and  a  walk  up  the 
middle  of  the  lawn.  At  the  present  time  a  three- 
story  wooden  building  stands  on  each  side  of  the 
walk  on  what  was  formerly  the  lawn.  Colonel  Glover 
used  to  ride  in  a  coach  with  a  yellow  body,  drawn  by 
two  white  horses.  His  coachman  was  a  colored  man 
named  Cato,  who  was,  I  think,  a  slave.  I  can  recollect 
riding  in  this  coach. 


MEMORIAL  OF   URIEL   CROCKER.  19 

Colonel  Glover  married,  for  his  second  wife,  a 
widow  Greely,  whose  maiden  name  was  Hitchborn, 
and  who,  before  her  first  marriage,  lived  at  the  North 
End  of  Boston.  Her  first  husband  was  a  sea  captain, 
and  she  was  a  sister  of  the  second  wife  of  General 
Glover. 

By  her  first  husband  she  had  six  daughters,  Nancy, 
who  married  Caleb  Loring,  the  father  of  the  late 
Charles  Greely  Loring,  and  who  lived  on  Somerset 
Street  in  Boston,  where  Sleeper  Hall  now  stands; 
Hannah,  who  married  William  Stevenson,  the  father 
of  the  late  J.  Thomas  Stevenson ; l  Fanny,  who  mar- 
ried first,  Edward  Loring,  the  father  of  Edward 
Greely  Loring,  who  was  Judge  of  Probate  in  Suffolk 
County,  and  afterwards  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Claims 
in  Washington,  and  second,  Thomas  Curtis,  the  father 
of  the  late  Charles  P.  Curtis,  Thomas  B.  Curtis,  and 
James  F.  Curtis  ; 2  Isanna,  who  married  Col.  William 
R.  Lee,  of  Salem ;  and  two  others,  Mary  and  Betsey, 
who  never  married.  One  of  these  unmarried  daugh- 
ters at  one  time  kept  a  school  on  Mt.  Vernon  Street, 
Boston. 

About  the  year  1800  Colonel  Glover's  wife  induced 
him  to  come  to  Boston  to  live.  His  residence  in  Bos- 
ton was  a  house  on  the  north  side  of  Beacon  Street 
just  west  of  Somerset  <  Street.  There  were  two  large 
houses  there,  one  on  the  corner  of  Somerset  Street, 

1  J.   Thomas  Stevenson   was   the  father  of  Gen.  Robert  H. 
Stevenson. 

2  James  F.  Curtis  was  the  father  of  Gen.  Greely  S.  Curtis. 


20  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

and  the  other,  just  west  of  that  on  the  corner,  was 
the  house  in  which  Colonel  Glover  lived,  and  in  which 
he  died  in  1804. 

Colonel  Glover  had  several  children  besides  my 
grandmother.  These  were  Tabitha,  who  married 
William  Bartoll ;  Eleanor,  who  married,  first,  Lewis 
Gilbert,  and  afterwards,  a  Mr.  Skinner ;  Hannah,  who 
married  a  Mr.  Gerry,  and  died  leaving  two  children, 
Thomas  and  Elizabeth,  who  married  a  Mr.  Blackler ; 
Abigail,  who  married  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hubbard,  who 
was  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Marblehead,  and  whose 
funeral  I  attended  when  I  was  a  small  boy.1  She 
afterwards  married  Rev.  Mr.  Flint,  and  still  later  Rev. 
Cornelius  Waters,  both  of  whom,  I  think,  lived  in 
Ashby,  Mass.,  where  she  died  in  1834.  There  was 
also  a  son,  Benjamin  Stacey  Glover,  who  married 
Tabitha  Gerry,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters,  — 
Tabitha,  who  married  Samuel  Curwen  Ward,  of  Salem ; 
Abigail,  who  married  a  Mr.  Robinson ;  and  Hannah, 
who  died  unmarried.  Benjamin  Stacey  Glover  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College  in  1781. 

Colonel  Glover  at  one  time  proposed  to  the  town 
of  Marblehead  that  he  would  build  for  it  at  his  own 
expense  a  hospital  on  Cat  (now  called  Lowell)  Island, 

1  Three  sons  of  Ebenezer  and  Abigail  Hubbard  were  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Hubbard  of  Hickman,  Fulton  County,  Kentucky,  who 
died  Sept.  2,  1858;  Dr.  Charles  Hubbard,  who  was  living  in 
Hickman  in  December  1858,  and  Dr.  John  B.  Hubbard,  of  Rush- 
ville,  Illinois,  who  died  in  1887.  A  grandson  of  the  latter,  Hub- 
bard Parker,  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1880,  and  was 
living  in  Muskegon,  Michigan,  in  1884. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  21 

if  the  town  would  enforce  quarantine  regulations. 
The  town  accepted  his  offer,  and  the  hospital  was  built 
and  the  quarantine  enforced.  But  afterwards  some 
of  the  people  of  the  town,  who  had  become  dissatis- 
fied with  the  enforcement  of  the  quarantine  regula- 
tions, which  sometimes  kept  their  husbands,  brothers, 
and  sons  detained  for  two  or  three  weeks  on  the  island 
in  plain  sight  of  their  own  dwellings,  determined  to 
retaliate  upon  Colonel  Glover  as  the  cause  of  the 
trouble. 

My  grandmother  told  me  that  one  evening,  between 
nine  and  ten  o'clock,  a  gentleman  called  and  informed 
her  father  that  some  persons  had  met  in  a  building 
near  by  and  were  disguising  themselves  as  Indians 
with  the  intention  of  coming  that  night  to  destroy  his 
house.  Colonel  Glover  immediately  sent  his  colored 
man,  Cato,  to  ask  his  brother,  General  Glover,  to  come 
over.  General  Glover  came,  and,  after  hearing  the 
story,  asked  his  brother  whether  there  were  not  in  the 
rear  of  the  house  a  couple  of  cannon  which  had  be- 
longed to  a  vessel  of  his,  and  whether  he  had  not 
some  powder  and  balls.  On  being  informed  that  he 
had  all  these  things,  General  Glover  said,  "  Well,  Jon- 
athan, you  need  not  trouble  yourself  about  it,  we  will 
fix  them."  Then  he  told  the  women  in  the  house  to 
get  every  candle  and  candlestick  that  there  was  in 
that  house  and  in  his  own.  He  placed  the  two  cannon 
in  the  front  hall,  which  was  ten  or  twelve  feet  wide 
and  extended  through  the  middle  of  the  house.  He 
caused  one  cannon  to  be  loaded  with  powder  and  rock 


22  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

salt  and  the  other  with  powder  and  balls.  My  grand- 
mother told  me  that  she  went  to  General  Glover  and 
said,  "  Uncle  John,  we  have  got  all  the  candlesticks 
and  candles  there  are  in  both  houses,  but  we  have 
more  candles  than  candlesticks."  "  Well,  Mary," 
said  he,  "  have  n't  you  some  turnips  down  cellar  ? " 
On  being  told  that  there  were  some  there,  he  said, 
"  I  want  you  to  get  enough  for  all  the  candles  you 
have,  and  to  dig  holes  in  them  for  the  candles,  for  I 
want  to  make  this  hall  a  blaze  of  light."  Everything 
having  been  prepared,  the  cannons  loaded,  and  the 
candles  lighted,  he  said,  "  Now,  girls,  I  want  you  all 
to  clear  out  of  this  house,  for  I  do  not  want  to  have 
a  petticoat  here,  as  there  may  be  unpleasant  work 
before  morning."  Accordingly  the  women  left  and 
went  to  General  Glover's  house.  At  about  half-past 
eleven  o'clock  the  people  were  heard  coming  up  the 
walk,  and  when  they  had  come  about  one-third  of  the 
way  up,  General  Glover  ordered  the  front  door  to  be 
thrown  open,  and,  standing  with  a  blazing  torch  ready 
to  touch  off  the  cannon,  which  had  been  aimed  down 
the  walk,  he  commanded  the  mob,  in  his  military 
style,  to  halt,  or  they  were  dead  men.  They  did  halt, 
and  consequently  there  were  no  dead  men,  and  there 
was  no  further  trouble. 

Three  days  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  Gen. 
John  Glover  marched  his  regiment  of  one  thousand 
men  from  Marblehead  to  Cambridge.  Jonathan  Glo- 
ver armed,  equipped,  and  fed  a  large  part  of  these 
men  at  his  own  expense.  This  was  refunded  to  him 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  23 

by  the  town  after  the  war.  General  Glover's  head- 
quarters at  Cambridge  were  in  the  house  known  as 
"  Washington's  Headquarters,"  but  the  house  was 
afterwards  given  up  by  him  to  Washington.  I  believe 
that  after  the  battle  of  Saratoga  he  marched  to  Cam- 
bridge the  Hessian  troops  that  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  again  occupied  the  same  house.  These  Hessians 
were  quartered  on  the  land  in  front  of  Rev.  Dr.  Low- 
ell's house,  where  Mr.  Gardner  Greene  Hubbard  and 
others  now  reside.  My  grandfather  James  visited 
General  Glover  when  he  was  living  in  that  house,  and 
one  afternoon,  when  I  was  taking  my  grandfather  to 
drive,  he  pointed  out  the  house,  and  said  he  had 
stayed  there  over  a  week. 

Gen.  John  Glover  was  originally  a  shoemaker,  and, 
in  some  poetry  that  I  recollect,  was  said  to  have  left 
his  awl  for  his  country.  After  the  war  he  was  taken 
into  partnership  in  commerce  by  his  brother  Jona- 
than. They  both  were  for  several  years  members  of 
the  State  Legislature,  Jonathan  having  been  a  member 
in  1776,  1777,  1784,  1785,  1786,  1787,  1788,  and 
1789. 


24  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  HIS  OWN  LIFE. 

I  WAS  born  on  Sept.  13,  1796,  at  Marblehead,  in 
the  house  on  Franklin  Street  since  known  as  the 
"  Pickett  House,"  it  having  been  devised  in  1854,  by 
one  Moses  A.  Pickett,  to  the  town  of  Marblehead  as  a 
home  for  poor  widows,  "  natives  of  the  town."  Mr. 
Pickett,  before  his  death,  resided  in  this  house.  He 
was  a  peculiar  man,  and  some  years  ago,  when  visit- 
ing Marblehead,  I  found  him  standing  in  front  of  the 
house  feeding  a  large  number  of  doves,  and  when  I 
asked  him  if  he  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  this,  he 
replied  that  he  was,  and  that  he  "  liked  doves  because 
they  were  not  desateful" 

When  I  was  about  twelve  years  old,  and  was  at 
home  sick  with  the  measles,  I  saw  from  the  window 
of  my  father's  house,  Floyd  Ireson,  the  subject 
of  Whittier's  well-known  poem,  dragged  along  the 
street  in  a  dory  by  a  mob.  It  was  a  mob  of  men  and 
boys,  not  of  women,  as  the  poem  has  it.  They  had 
put  a  lot  of  tar  in  a  dory,  and  had  emptied  a  feather 
bed  into  the  tar,  and  then  had  seized  Ireson  and 
thrown  him  on  his  back  into  the  dory.  After  he  had 
been  dragged  about  the  town,  the  dory  was  placed  in 
a  cart  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  Ireson  to  Salem, 
but  the  Salem  people  refused  to  let  the  mob  come 
into  their  town.  The  old  rhyme  about  the  affair,  as 
I  recollect  it,  was,  — 


MEMORIAL   OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  25 

"  Old  Flood  Oireson,  for  his  hord  hort 
Was  torred  and  f uthered  and  corried  in  a  cort ; 
Old  Flood  Oireson,  for  leaving  a  wrack 
"Was  torred  and  f  uthered,  both  belly  and  back." 

The  first  school  that  I  went  to  was  Ma'am  Abbott's. 
Afterwards  I  went  to  Master  Heath's  school,  and  fin- 
ally to  the  Academy,  then  kept  by  Samuel  Greeley, 
a  clergyman,  who  preached  frequently  on  Sundays  in 
Boston  in  the  North  Church  on  Salem  Street.  After- 
wards he  was  a  deacon  in  Dr.  Channing's  church.  In 
August,  1811,  the  month  in  which  my  mother  died,  I 
graduated  from  the  Academy  as  first  scholar,  and  a 
certificate  from  the  Trustees  to  that  effect  was  pre- 
sented to  me  by  the  preceptor  at  the  public  exhibition. 

The  boy  who  stood  second  in  my  class  at  the  Acad- 
emy was  Nathaniel  Lindsay,  who  was  afterwards,  for 
a  long  series  of  years,  in  command  of  the  largest 
packet  ships  between  New  York  and  Liverpool.  The 
third  in  the  class  was  William  Borden,  who  entered 
the  navy  as  a  midshipman  about  the  time  I  came  to 
Boston.  He  rose  through  the  various  grades  until  he 
became  the  commander  of  a  large  sloop-of-war,  which 
was  lost  with  all  on  board  in  a  hurricane  off  Cape 
Hatteras.  He  was  a  man  of  great  courage  and 
ability. 

It  was  the  custom  at  the  Academy  for  the  older 
boys  to  take  turns  weekly  at  sweeping  out  the  boys' 
and  girls'  rooms  and  making  the  fires.  Borden  and  I 
were  always  together  for  that  purpose,  and  we  used  to 
think  that  the  girls  ought  at  least  to  sweep  out  their 


26  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

own  room.  One  morning,  when  the  thermometer 
was  below  zero,  Borden  proposed  that  we  should  make 
the  fire  in  the  girls'  room  so  that  it  would  not  burn. 
We  arranged  the  fire  that  way,  and  pretty  soon  Miss 
Dana,  the  preceptress  (she  afterwards  married  Israel 
Thorndike,  who  built  the  house  on  the  westerly  corner 
of  Beacon  and  Joy  streets),  sent  word  by  one  of  the 
girls  to  Master  Greeley  that  her  fire  would  not  burn. 
Greeley  inquired  who  made  the  fires  that  week,  and 
when  informed  that  it  was  Borden  and  Crocker,  he 
reprimanded  us  severely  and  ordered  us  to  go  forth- 
with and  attend  to  that  fire.  We  were  busy  all  the 
forenoon  with  that  fire,  and  did  not  succeed  in  mak- 
ing it  burn  till  about  half  an  hour  before  school  was 
dismissed.  Of  course,  on  that  morning  we  got  clear 
of  our  recitations  and  studies. 

When  I  graduated  from  the  Academy  my  father 
asked  me  what  trade  or  profession  I  wished  to  follow. 
I  told  him  that  I  should  like  to  go  to  sea.  I  had  been 
accustomed  to  go  out  with  Skipper  Thomas  in  his 
boat,  and  I  enjoyed  sailing  a  boat  and  being  on  the 
water.  I  could  sail  a  boat  at  that  time  equal  to  any 
one  in  Marblehead.  My  father  told  me  that  if  I  was 
going  to  follow  the  sea,  I  must  learn  navigation.  I 
liked  that  first  rate,  and  my  father  arranged  with 
Captain  Story,  a  brother  of  Judge  Story,  to  instruct 
me  in  that  science.  My  father  bought  books,  slates, 
and  everything  that  was  necessary  for  me  to  begin  to 
study  navigation,  and  I  was  very  much  pleased ;  but 
my  grandfather,  Captain  James,  happened  to  see  the 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  27 

books,  and  asked  what  they  were  for.  I  told  him  that 
they  were  for  me  to  learn  navigation,  and  that  I  was 
going  to  sea.  "  You  can't  go  to  sea,"  said  he.  "  None 
of  my  descendants  shall  go  to  sea."  I  said,  "  What 
am  I  going  to  do,  then  ?  Father  has  been  and  bought 
all  these  books  and  has  paid  as  much  as  twenty -five 
dollars  for  them."  But  my  grandfather  replied,  "  I  '11 
pay  for  them.  I  '11  get  you  a  place.  I  '11  get  you  a 
place." 

Soon  after  this  my  grandfather  took  me  up  to 
Cambridge  to  Commencement.1  My  grandfather,  my 
Aunt  Martha2  ("Aunt  Patty"  we  used  to  call  her), 
and  I,  all  came  up  to  Cambridge  in  the  old  chaise. 
Three  grown  persons  could  ride  in  that  chaise  very 
easily. 

At  Cambridge  we  put  the  horse  up  in  a  field  where 
a  man  had  a  load  of  hay.  Then  we  went  around  the 
common  to  see  the  things  there,  and  afterwards  we 
went  into  Dr.  Holmes's  old  church  and  heard  Edward 
Everett  speak,  this  being  the  year  when  he  grad- 
uated. Afterwards  we  drove  to  Boston  and  stopped 
at  Mr.  Eaton's  in  Governor's  Alley,  now  Province 
Street.  In  the  evening  we  went  to  the  theatre,  and 
did  not  get  back  to  the  house  until  after  eleven 
o'clock.  The  next  day  my  grandfather  went  to 

1  Commencement  this  year  was  on  August  28. 

2  The  person  here  referred  to  as  "  Aunt  Martha,"  was  Martha 
Eaton,  a  sister  of  the  first  wife  of  Mr.  Crocker's  father,  his  first 
and  second  wives  having  been  cousins.     She  afterwards  married 
Hamilton   D.  Reynolds,  of    Londonderry,  N.  H.,  and  was   the 
mother  of  the  late  William  J.  Reynolds,  of  Boston. 


28  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

see  Mr.  Samuel  Parkman,  who  lived  on  Bowdoin 
Square,  to  ask  him  if  he  could  find  a  place  for  me 
in  Boston.  Mr.  Parkman  promised  to  try  to  do  so, 
but  he  did  not  succeed.  That  night  we  returned  to 
Marblehead. 

My  father  afterwards  heard  through  a  Mr.  Turell, 
of  Marblehead,  of  a  place  in  the  printing-office  of 
Mr.  Samuel  Turell  Armstrong,  and  on  Saturday, 
Sept.  14,  1811,  the  day  after  I  was  fifteen  years  old, 
my  father  took  me  up  to  Boston  to  place  me  as  an 
apprentice  with  Mr.  Armstrong.  I  had  to  spend  a 
good  part  of  my  birthday  cleaning  up  the  old  chaise 
and  getting  the  horse  ready,  and  in  the  morning  my 
father  got  me  up  at  four  o'clock  and  we  drove  to 
Boston.  In  the  afternoon  my  father  drove  home  and 
left  me.  I  did  not  know  a  soul  in  the  city.  On  the 
next  morning  (Sunday)  I  got  up  and  looked  out  of 
the  front  door  of  my  boarding-house,  which  was  a 
few  doors  north  of  Mr.  Armstrong's  store.  I  looked 
around,  but  was  afraid  to  go  far  for  fear  of  getting 
lost.  Afterwards,  hearing  the  bell  of  the  Brattle 
Square  Church  ring,  I  went  there  and  heard  Dr. 
Buckminster  preach. 

On  the  next  (Monday)  morning  I  went  to  work  as 
an  apprentice  in  Mr.  Armstrong's  printing-office  at 
what  was  then  No.  50  Cornhill,  being  the  same 
premises  that  were  afterwards  No.  47,  and  are  now 
Nos.  173  and  175  Washington  Street. 

After  I  had  been  in  Boston  about  a  fortnight  my 
grandfather  James  came  up  to  see  how  I  was  getting 


MEMORIAL   OF   URIEL  CROCKER.  29 

on.  He  offered  to  take  me  home,  but  I  told  him  I 
did  not  wish  to  go  home  until  Thanksgiving.  The 
day  before  Thanksgiving  my  grandfather  came  for 
me  again,  and  I  went  home  with  him.  We  drove 
home  after  sundown,  and  it  was  a  very  dark  night; 
and  I  remember  that  my  grandfather  said,  "The 
horse  knows  the  way." 

At  first  I  was  "  printer's  devil  "  in  the  printing- 
office,  and  had  to  do  all  the  errands.  I  had  to  put 
the  wool  on  the  balls,  and  had  to  go  on  foot  to 
Cambridge  to  Mr.  Dowse  (who  gave  his  library  to 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society)  to  buy  sheep- 
skins to  make  the  balls  out  of.  Sometimes  I  bought 
two  or  three  skins  at  a  time  so  that  I  should  not 
have  to  go  again  soon.  When  not  doing  errands,  I 
used  to  learn  to  set  type.  I  learned  this  so  fast  that 
by  Thanksgiving  I  could  set  up  more  type  in  an  hour 
than  any  one  else  in  the  printing-office.  For  the 
first  four  years  I  got  my  board  (which  cost  Mr. 
Armstrong  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  week)  and  thirty 
dollars  a  year  for  clothes,  and  if  I  set  up  more  than 
four  thousand  types  in  a  day,  I  got  twenty-five  cents 
a  thousand  for  all  above  that  number.  I  could  set 
up  six  thousand,  and  sometimes  seven  thousand  in  a 
day.  This  money  I  had  for  myself,  and  my  father 
gave  me  a  dollar  now  and  then,  but  other  than  that 
I  never  got  anything  from  my  father  or  from  my 
grandfather  after  I  was  fifteen.1 

1  From  an  original  account-book  kept  by  Mr.  Crocker  it  ap- 
pears that  during  the  first  four  years  of  his  apprenticeship 


30  MEMORIAL  OF   URIEL  CROCKER. 

I  remained  "  printer's  devil  "  for  a  little  more  than 
two  months,  or  until  the  coming  of  Osmyn  Brcwster, 
who  afterwards  became  my  partner.  After  he  came, 
he  was  "  printer's  devil, "  and  I  was  a  "  compositor. " 
He  came  from  Worthington,  Mass.,  and  was  a 
chubby,  fair-complexioned  boy,  dressed  in  a  blue 
corduroy  suit,  when  I  first  knew  him. 

In  January,  1817,  when  I  was  nineteen  years  old, 
Mr.  Ezra  Lincoln,  the  foreman  of  our  printing-office, 
purchased  a  printing-office  on  Congress  Street  and 
left  Mr.  Armstrong's  employ.  Mr.  Armstrong  re- 
quested me  to  take  Mr.  Lincoln's  position,  and  I  did 
so,  though  with  some  reluctance,  as  there  were  up- 
wards of  twenty  compositors  and  pressmen  and  seven 
apprentices  in  the  office,  and  of  the  apprentices  four 
were  older  than  I  was,  — namely,  William  A.  Parker, 
Amasa  Porter,  Edward  Tufts,  and  Thomas  W.  Shep- 
ard.  I  had  always  been,  however,  the  one  who  had 
been  called  on  to  do  the  difficult  things  that  the  other 
men  could  not  manage,  and  I  was  able  to  earn  two  or 
three  dollars  a  week  over  my  stint,  and  after  my 
stint  was  done  I  could  go  out  when  I  had  a  mind  to. 
Mr.  Armstrong  told  me  if  I  would  take  the  place 

he  received,  in  addition  to  the  $120.00  allowed  for  clothes,  the 
further  sum  of  $180.02,  on  account  of  extra  type-setting,  making 
in  all  the  sum  of  $300.02.  It  further  appears  that  of  this  sum 
$95.15  remained  at  the  end  of  this  time  uncollected  in  the  hands 
of  his  employer,  thereby  showing  that  Mr.  Crocker's  total  ex- 
penses during  the  four  years,  exclusive  of  his  board,  which  was 
furnished  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  amounted  to  $204.87,  or  less  than 
$1.00  a  week. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  31 

of  foreman  I  should  go  out  as  much  as  I  wished. 
Well,  I  took  the  place,  and  I  never  had  any  trouble. 
I  never  assumed  anything,  but  went  right  along  and 
attended  to  my  duty.  I  never  had  an  unpleasant  or 
unkind  word  from  any  of  my  fellow-apprentices.1 

1  The  following  extract  from  a  communication  from  an  old 
printer,  which  appeared  in  the  "Salem  Register"  for  Aug.  9, 
1855,  gives  us  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  the  relations  that  existed 
between  Mr.  Crocker,  as  the  foreman  of  a  printing-office,  and 
the  men  in  his  employ  :  — 

"I  went  to  Boston  in  1827  and  hired  myself  to  Crocker  & 
Brewster,  to  learn  book  work,  for  I  had  never  set  up  a  page  for  a 
book  in  my  life,  though  four  years  at  the  business,  nor  had  I  ever 
worked  off  a  book-form  at  press.  I  found  Mr.  Crocker  was  fore- 
man, and  he  gave  me  some  copy  and  a  '  stick  and  rule  '  for  the 
4  Missionary  Herald.'  Part  of  my  copy  was  to  be  *  leaded  '  and 
I  was  told  to  '  pick  out  leads  from  a  form  on  the  stone.'  So  I 
went  to  work  and  set  up  my  matter  solid,  intending  to  lead  it 
afterwards,  and  was  engaged  in  picking  out  leads  by  opening  each 
line  and  extracting  the  lead,  when  Mr.  Crocker  came  along  beside 
me.  He  said  nothing,  however,  only  looked  on  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  then  in  his  quick  and  rapid  way  stepped  to  another  part  of 
the  office  and  brought  an  empty  galley,  saying,  'Look  here, 
young  man,  let  me  show  you  a  better  way  than  that.'  He  said 
this  so  pleasantly  and  did  it  so  quick  that  I  felt  relieved  of  a  load 
of  a  thousand  pounds.  A  few  days  after  this  I  had  a  paragraph 
to  '  overrun,'  and  had  spread  the  lines  along  a  galley,  busily 
getting  'in  *  an  '  out,'  when  he  came  along,  stopping  to  notice 
my  awkwardness,  but  saying  nothing.  After  I  had  gathered 
up  the  lines  thus  spread  out,  and  was  about  to  do  likewise  with 
some  thirty  or  forty  lines  more,  he  stopped  me,  saying,  *  Stop  a 
minute, —  let  me  show  you.'  He  then  very  kindly  'reversed* 
my  matter,  and  showed  me  how  to  take  off  the  words,  —  a  lesson 
I  have  had  occasion  to  teach  to  many  a  greenhorn  since.  It  was 
the  way  and  manner  in  which  Mr.  Crocker  kindly  spoke  and 
acted  that  has  caused  these  little  incidents  to  be  cherished  as 
worthy  of  notice  for  the  imitation  of  others." 


32  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

From  this  time  until  I  was  free  Mr.  Armstrong  al- 
lowed me  two  dollars  a  week  for  my  services  as  fore- 
man. He  told  me  to  manage  the  office  just  the  same 
as  if  it  was  my  own,  and  if  any  of  the  men  did  not 
do  what  I  told  them  to,  I  was  to  order  them  to  go 
downstairs  and  get  their  money.  The  office  then 
ran  seven  presses.  Mr.  Brewster  left  the  printing- 
office  about  this  time  and  went  downstairs  into  the 
book  store.  Mr.  Armstrong  had  at  first  wished  me 
to  go  into  the  store,  but  I  told  him  I  did  not  wish  to 
do  so,  as  I  wanted  to  learn  the  printing  business  so 
that  I  should  have  a  trade  by  which  I  could  earn  a 
living. * 

1  Another  old  printer,  one  J.  S.  Redfield,  living  in  Burlington, 
N.  J.,  wrote  in  September,  1886,  to  the  "New  York  Tribune," 
concerning  Mr.  Crocker,  as  follows :  "  Sixty  odd  years  ago, 
when  I  first  knew  him,  he  was  foreman  of  the  printing-office  of 
the  late  Samuel  T.  Armstrong,  of  Boston,  with  whom  he  had  also 
served  an  apprenticeship.  In  those  days  a  boy  had  to  serve 
seven  years  to  learn  the  printer's  trade,  but  he  learned  something 
more  than  merely  «  sticking '  type.  Press  work  was  then  done 
on  hand  presses.  Machine  presses,  and  even  inking  machines 
were  unknown.  The  forms  were  inked  with  balls  by  one  man, 
when  another  pulled  the  impression.  Eight  tokens  a  day,  one 
thousand  impressions  on  one  side,  was  considered  a  day's  work. 
Mr.  Armstrong  was  the  publisher  of  '  Scott's  Commentaries  on 
the  Bible,'  a  large  octavo  in  six  volumes.  It  was  being  stereo- 
typed at  the  Boston  Type  and  Stereotype  Foundry,  in  1824,  when 
I  was  'copyholder '  there,  as  they  called  it.  After  reading  the 
proofs  twice,  the  revise  was  sent  to  Mr.  Crocker  for  his  super- 
vision. It  was  my  business  to  take  these  revises  to  him,  and 
sometimes  I  had  to  stop  and  read  the  copy  to  him.  So  I  used  to 
see  him  very  often,  and  I  remember  being  struck  with  his  kind 
and  genial  manners,  he  being  a  man  of  probably  twenty-eight  and 
I  a  boy  of  fourteen." 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER.  33 

We  printed  a  good  deal  at  that  time  for  Jeremiah 
Evarts.  He  used  to  write  thousands  of  pages  of 
manuscript  in  a  round,  plain  hand,  hardly  altering 
so  much  as  a  word,  and  it  never  required  more  than 
a  few  minutes  to  make  all  the  corrections  when  the 
proof  was  returned.  Jeremiah  Evarts  was  an  extraor- 
dinary man.  He  could  recollect  the  dates  of  about 
everything  that  had  happened  since  the  beginning 
of  the  world.  He  was  the  father  of  the  Hon.  Wil- 
liam M.  Evarts.  Others  for  whom  we  printed,  Rev. 
Ethan  Smith,  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  Elijah  Parish, 
of  By  field,  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Morse,  of  Charlestown,  were  more  or  less  careless 
in  their  manuscripts,  and  hours  were  spent  by  us  in 
deciphering  their  words.  Frequently,  if  we  could  not 
succeed  in  making  out  the  words,  we  would  put  in 
words  of  about  the  same  length  that  made  nonsense, 
or  would  leave  a  vacant  space  or  turn  the  type  upside 
down. 

In  those  days  I  belonged  to  the  militia  and  used  to 
perform  military  duty.  We  had  to  turn  out  on  the 
first  Tuesday  in  May  and  on  two  or  three  other  days 
in  the  year,  and  had  to  pay  a  fine  every  time  we  did 
not  attend.  That  military  duty  lasted  from  the  age 
of  eighteen  to  that  of  twenty-one.  I  never  had  much 
to  do  with  a  gun,  but  once,  when  I  was  in  the 
militia,  the  men  were  all  shooting  at  a  mark,  and 
though  I  tried  to  get  off,  I  failed  to  do  so,  and  had 
to  try  my  skill.  It  so  happened  that  my  bullet 
struck  the  bull's-eye,  and  I  gained  a  great  reputation 

3 


84  MEMORIAL   OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

as  a  marksman  from  that  one  shot,  but  I  was  always 
very  careful  not  to  try  again,  for  I  knew  that  if  I  did, 
it  would  be  found  that  I  could  not  send  my  bullet 
anywhere  near  the  target.  One  Monday  morning 
they  turned  us  out  and  marched  us  about  on  the 
common  all  day.  The  next  day  they  marched  us  to 
Dedham,  ten  miles  away.  It  rained  so  in  the  night 
that  it  shrunk  the  canvas  of  the  tents  and  drew  the 
tent  pegs  out  of  the  ground,  and  we  had  to  get  up 
and  set  our  tent  up  again.  The  next  day  we  marched 
in  the  rain  at  division  muster  all  day  till  six  o'clock, 
and  after  dark  orders  came  for  us  to  leave  the  ground 
before  nine  and  march  back  to  Boston.  That  was 
the  last  time  I  ever  marched.  1  was  then  nineteen. 
Those  three  days  were  too  much  for  me.  I  had  to 
lug  that  heavy  gun  and  carry  a  great  heavy  blanket 
on  my  shoulders.  After  that  I  swore  off  and  paid 
my  fines. 

At  about  this  time  I  tried  to  learn  to  sing.  I 
used  to  go  to  a  house  in  Province  Court  and  practise 
night  after  night,  and  after  school  we  waited  on  the 
girls  home.  One  of  my  fellow-apprentices  used  to 
go  to  Cambridge  with  his  girl/ and  I  recollect  that 
once  he  had  no  money  to  pay  the  toll  on  the  bridge, 
and  she  had  to  pay  for  him  going  over  and  to  give 
him  a  cent  to  pay  his  toll  back.  Finally  I  gave  up 
trying  to  sing  as  they  concluded  I  had  no  voice. 

About  the  time  I  was  free  I  bought  a  square  of 
carpet  and  that  desk  now  in  my  parlor  and  some 
chairs,  —  one  large  arm-chair  for  myself,  to  sit  in 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  35 

when  writing,  and  some  other  chairs  for  company. 
The  carpet  cost  me  eighteen  dollars  and  a  half,  and 
the  desk  seventeen  dollars.  I  boarded  then  on  Wash- 
ington Street,  up  one  flight,  in  front  of  the  Province 
House.  The  entrance  to  the  house  was  through  the 
passageway  leading  to  the  Province  House,  and  the 
door  of  the  house  was  on  the  left  hand  side  of  the 
passageway.  Previously  to  this  I  had  boarded  on 
the  corner  of  Green  and  Chambers  streets,  and  at 
the  easterly  end  of  Howard  Street  in  a  house  that  set 
back  fifty  or  a  hundred  feet  from  the  street. 

When  I  was  free,  the  journeymen  claimed  that  I 
must  give  them  a  treat.  I  told  them  I  would  do  so, 
but  that  it  must  be  postponed  until  Saturday.  We 
fixed  up  some  tables  in  the  attic  of  the  printing- 
office,  and  I  sent  out  and  got  some  ham,  corned  beef, 
etc.,  etc.  I  also  had  lemonade,  punch,  and  Jamaica 
rum.  I  bought  a  dozen  bottles  of  Madeira  wine  and 
paid  a  dollar  a  bottle  for  it.  The  men,  however, 
did  not  take  kindly  to  the  Madeira,  but  preferred  the 
lemonade  and  the  rum.  I  kept  a  bottle  of  that 
Madeira  for  many  years,  and  finally  opened  it  when 
my  grandson,  George  Uriel  Crocker,  came  of  age  in 
1884.  The  men  came  in  from  the  other  printing- 
offices,  and  1  think  there  was  hardly  an  office  in  Bos- 
ton that  was  not  represented.  I  guess  that  treat  cost 
me  a  pretty  round  sum,  one  hundred  dollars  or  more, 
but  I  had  promised  to  do  it. 

At  this  time  we  used  to  begin  work  at  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  We  had  an  hour  (from  seven  to 


36  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

eight)  for  breakfast  and  an  hour  for  dinner.  In 
summer  we  worked  till  dark,  but  after  September 
20th,  we  had  to  go  back  after  tea  and  work  till  eight 
P.  M.  by  candle-light  (candles  ten  to  the  pound). 
After  eight  o'clock  we  went  home  and  "played  saw 
wood  "  till  ten  o'clock,  and  then  went  to  bed. 

Somewhere  about  the  year  1820,  I  was  a  member 
of  a  fire  company  called  the  "  Conservative  Society." 
Each  of  us  had  two  leather  buckets  to  take  with  us 
when  we  ran  to  the  fire,  and  we  always  kept  the 
buckets  ready  for  use  with  a  bed-key  and  two  large 
canvas  bags  in  them.  I  still  have  those  buckets  and 
bags.  The  bed-key  was  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
apart  the  bedsteads  that  we  might  find  in  the  houses 
that  were  on  fire  or  liable  to  take  fire,  and  the  can- 
vas bags  were  to  be  used  to  put  small  articles  in  that 
might  be  saved  from  the  fire.  The  "  rules  and  regu- 
lations "  of  this  " Conservative  Society,"  printed  in 
1811,  provided  in  Article  4  that  "Every  member 
shall  constantly  keep  together,  in  the  most  suitable 
place  in  his  house,  two  leather  buckets,  two  canvas 
bags,  and  one  bed-key;  the  buckets  and  bags  to  be 
uniformly  painted,  agreeably  to  the  directions  of  the 
society."  Article  5  further  provided  that  "If  a 
building,  occupied  by  any  member  of  the  society, 
be  in  danger  from  fire,  every  other  member  shall 
immediately  repair  to  such  building,  with  his  buck- 
ets, bags,  and  bed -key,  and  use  his  best  endeavors  to 
preserve  the  building,  and  to  remove  and  secure  the 
goods  and  effects."  Among  the  members  of  this 


MEMORIAL   OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  3T 

society  were  Mr.  Thomas  Minns,  Mr.  Charles  Ewer, 
Mr.  Charles  A.  Wells,  Mr.  Melvin  Lord,  Mr.  Timo- 
thy H.  Carter,  Mr.  Theophilus  R.  Marvin,  Mr.  Har- 
rison Gray,  Mr.  Joseph  T.  Buckingham,  Mr.  William 
W.  Clapp,  and  Mr.  Nathan  Hale. 

In  1817,  just  before  it  was  time  for  me  to  be  free, 
Mr.  Armstrong  came  to  me  and  said  that  he  was 
going  off  on  a  journey  to  the  Mammoth  Cave,  and 
should  be  absent  at  the  time  of  my  twenty-first  birth- 
day. He  asked  me  to  continue  to  hold  the  position 
of  foreman  of  the  printing-office  till  he  came  back, 
and  he  promised  me  that,  if  I  would  do  so,  he  would 
take  me  into  partnership  the  next  year.  Accordingly 
on  Nov.  1,  1818,  he  took  Mr.  Brewster  and  myself 
into  partnership  with  him,  the  arrangement  being 
that  the  book-store  was  to  be  carried  on  in  the  name 
of  Samuel  T.  Armstrong,  and  the  printing-office  in 
the  name  of  Crocker  &  Brewster.  Jeremiah  Evarts 
drew  up  our  articles  of  co-partnership. 

After  1825  the  whole  business  was  carried  on 
under  the  name  of  Crocker  &  Brewster.  Mr.  Arm- 
strong continued  to  be  a  member  of  the  firm  until 
1840.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the  store 
almost  daily  until  his  death  in  1850.  After  he  gave 
up  business  he  became  mayor  of  Boston  and  acting- 
governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  having  been  elected 
lieutenant-governor,  and  the  governor,  John  Davis, 
having  resigned  upon  being  elected  United  States  sen- 
ator. The  printing-office  was  always  in  my  especial 
charge,  and  the  book-store  in  that  of  Mr.  Brewster. 


38  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

In  1820  or  1821  we  were  thinking  of  publishing  an 
edition  of  Scott's  Family  Bible  in  six  volumes  oc- 
tavo, to  be  printed  from  ordinary  type.  I  suggested 
to  Mr.  Armstrong  and  to  Mr.  Brewster  that  it  would 
be  better  to  stereotype  it.  There  had  already  been 
editions  published  in  America  from  type,  one  by 
Woodward  in  Philadelphia,  and  one  by  Dodge  in 
New  York,  and  both  these  publishers  had  failed,  as 
was  understood  in  consequence  of  their  publication 
of  this  work.  These  I  think  were  quarto  editions. 
Mr.  Armstrong  had  also  published  an  edition  of 
the  work.  I  showed  Mr.  Armstrong  figures  which 
I  had  made  to  show  the  greater  advantage  and  profit 
of  stereotyping,  but  he  was  unwilling  to  trust  these 
figures.  At  that  time  no  large  work  had  ever  been 
stereotyped  in  America,  and  Mr.  Armstrong  was 
afraid  to  assume  the  great  expense  and  risk  of  stereo- 
typing these  six  large  volumes.  I  showed  him  that 
if  we  stereotyped  the  work,  we  need  print  only  five 
hundred  copies  at  a  time,  whereas,  if  we  printed 
from  type,  we  should  have  to  print  three  thousand 
copies  at  once,  and  thus  we  could  make  a  large  sav- 
ing in  paper,  which  would  help  to  pay  for  the  stereo- 
typing. Mr.  Armstrong  used  to  take  my  figures  off 
with  him,  and  would  come  back  about  once  a  week 
with  questions  which  I  was  always  ready  to  answer. 
We  proposed  to  Cummings  &  Hilliard,  to  Manning 
&  Loring,  and  to  Lincoln  &  Edmands  that  they 
should  join  in  the  undertaking  with  us,  but  they  all 
declined,  and  Mr.  Manning  and  Mr.  Lincoln  begged 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  39 

us  not  to  undertake  it,  as  they  said  it  would  fail  us. 
After  two  or  three  months  Mr.  Armstrong  finally 
concluded  to  go  ahead  and  stereotype  at  least  the 
first  volume.  We  were  sure  we  had  money  enough 
to  pay  for  stereotyping  that.  He  said  that  everybody 
that  he  had  consulted  advised  him  not  to  do  it,  but 
that  I  seemed  to  have  it  on  my  brain,  and  to  see  it 
so  clearly,  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  go 
ahead. 

I  at  once  made  a  contract  for  the  stereotyping  with 
Mr.  Timothy  H.  Carter.  I  was  to  pay  every  Satur- 
day noon  eighty  per  cent  of  the  price  for  the  work 
done  during  the  preceding  week,  and  the  other  twenty 
per  cent  was  to  be  paid  on  the  completion  of  the 
volume.  Every  Saturday  noon  I  took  the  money 
down  to  Salem  Street,  where  the  work  was  being 
done  in  a  large  building  next  beyond  the  North 
Church.  I  was  never  behind  once  in  my  payments. 
Carter  never  had  to  send  for  his  money,  and  when 
the  volume  was  completed,  I  gave  him  a  check  for 
his  remaining  twenty  per  cent.  When  we  got  through 
with  that  volume,  Mr.  Armstrong  took  courage  and 
we  went  right  on  with  the  next,  and  kept  on  till  the 
whole  work  was  completed.  The  stereotyping  of  the 
whole  work  took  about  a  year  or  a  year  and  a  half, 
and  cost  us  about  twenty  thousand  dollars,  —  a  very 
large  sum  for  us  in  those  days ;  but  it  proved  to  be  a 
very  fortunate  investment.  I  suppose  I  made  more 
money  out  of  that  work  than  out  of  any  I  ever  pub- 
lished. We  printed  the  Scott's  Bible  from  those 


40  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

plates  as  long  as  I  was  in  the  business,  and  when  we 
gave  up  our  business  we  sold  the  plates  to  Mr.  H. 
O.  Houghton.  Probably  we  printed  and  sold  in  all 
twenty  or  thirty  thousand  copies  of  the  work.  It 
cost  us  about  six  dollars  a  copy  to  manufacture  them, 
and  the  retail  price  at  which  they  were  sold  was 
twenty -four  dollars  a  copy.  We  got  about  twelve 
dollars  a  copy  for  those  we  sold  to  the  trade.1 

After  this  Mr.  Armstrong  always  had  the  greatest 
confidence  in  my  judgment.  He  never  bought  a 
share  of  stock  or  made  any  investment  whatever 
without  consulting  me,  and  he  always  once  a  year 
looked  over  his  property  with  me  to  see  if  any  change 
ought  to  be  made  in  it. 

Every  spring  I  used  to  go  off  to  the  other  cities  to 
attend  to  our  business.  I  had  to  be  away  sometimes 
for  six  weeks.  I  would  go  to  Portland,  Bangor, 
Augusta,  Worcester,  Hartford,  New  York,  and 
Philadelphia.  Generally  Joseph  Harper  and  I  went 
on  together  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia  to  at- 
tend the  book  auctions  there.  We  used  to  go  with 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  who  owned  the  boats,  and  who 
went  every  morning  and  came  back  every  afternoon, 
and  we  had  many  social  talks  with  him.  In  Phila- 

1  In  an  old  account  book  of  Mr.  Crocker's  there  is  the  follow- 
ing memorandum :  "  There  are  in  Scott's  Bible  569  signatures. 
It  takes  for  1000  copies  629  reams  of  paper.  Two  presses  will 
print  an  edition,  allowing  each  press  9  tokens  a  day,  in  21  weeks 
(27  forms  each  week).  Three  presses  will  complete  an  edition 
(9  tokens  on  each  press  —  40  forms  each  week)  in  a  little  upwards 
of  fourteen  weeks." 


MEMORIAL  OF   URIEL  CROCKER.  41 

delphia  the  booksellers  used  to  get  together  a  good 
deal.  I  recollect  one  grand  entertainment  they  had 
there,  when,  after  they  were  through  eating,  they  all 
began  to  smoke.  I  never  could  stand  tobacco  smoke, 
and  I  wanted  to  go  out ;  but  I  found  that  every  door 
was  locked  and  nobody  knew  where  the  keys  were. 
They  never  got  me  to  go  to  any  of  their  feasts  again, 
though  they  frequently  tried  to  do  so. 

Travelling  in  those  days  was  pretty  hard  work.  It 
took  a  day  and  a  half,  travelling  night  and  day,  to 
get  from  Boston  to  New  York.  I  remember  that 
once  I  started  from  New  York  for  New  Haven  in  a 
steamboat  which  was  full  of  Yale  students.  When 
we  were  within  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  wharf 
in  New  Haven,  the  boat  got  frozen  up  in  the  ice  and 
could  go  no  farther.  The  captain  said  that  when  the 
tide  came  in,  it  would  break  up  the  ice  so  that  he 
could  get  his  boat  through  and  up  to  the  wharf, 
which  was  in  plain  sight.  I  concluded  to  go  below 
and  turn  in,  and  went  to  sleep  and  slept  till  about 
four  or  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  some  one 
came  and  woke  me  up  and  said  he  had  been  up  all 
night,  and  he  thought  I  ought  to  let  him  have  a  turn 
at  my  berth  for  a  while.  I  thought  I  had  had  my 
share  of  it,  and  so  I  got  up  and  let  him  take  my 
place.  After  a  while  some  coaches  were  sent  round 
to  the  other  side  of  the  bay,  and  I  took  my  bag  and 
lugged  it  across  the  ice  and  rode  round  to  New 
Haven,  and  went  to  a  coffee-house,  where  after  a 
while  I  succeeded  in  getting  a  fire.  This  was  on 


42  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER 

Sunday.  I  stayed  there  all  day  and  went  to  church. 
1  intended  to  take  the  stage  for  Boston  in  the  even- 
ing; but  when  the  stage  came  along,  Green,  the 
driver,  said  there  were  nine  inside,  and  so  there  was 
no  room  for  me.  So  I  had  to  grin  and  bear  it,  and 
stay  all  night.  In  the  morning  I  took  an  extra  and 
started;  and  when  we  had  gone  some  six  or  seven 
miles  we  found  the  stage  that  had  started  the  night 
before,  stuck  in  the  mud.  We  reached  Hartford  late 
that  evening  and  got  up  at  two  or  three  o'clock  the 
next  morning  and  came  on  to  Boston.  That  Sunday 
night  was  the  night  on  which  old  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher's 
church  was  burned. l  Another  time,  when  going  down 
to  Portland,  I  was  nearly  frozen  to  death.  I  don't 
know  how  I  ever  lived  through  so  much  as  I  did,  but 
I  had  so  much  to  do  that  I  had  no  time  to  think 
about  myself. 

A  young  man  named  Haven  took  Mr.  Brewster's 
place  as  clerk  in  the  store  when  Mr.  Brewster  became 
a  partner.  Mr.  Armstrong  had  a  high  opinion  of 
Haven,  and  as  we  thought  it  desirable  to  have  a 
branch  of  our  business  in  New  York,  we  made,  in 
November,  1821,  a  partnership  for  five  years  with 
Haven,  and  he  went  to  New  York  to  take  charge  of 
a  store  for  us  there.  Haven  was  to  have  half  the 
profits  of  the  business  there,  and  was  guaranteed  five 
hundred  dollars  for  the  first  year  and  one  thousand 
dollars  for  each  of  the  other  four  years.  Mr.  Arm- 

1  Dr.  Beecher's  church,  which  was  on  Hanover  St.,  Boston, 
was  burned  on  the  morning  of  the  first  day  of  February,  1830. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  43 

strong  and  I  went  on  to  New  York  and  hired  for  the 
business  the  store  on  the  southerly  corner  of  John 
Street  and  Broadway.  After  this  partnership  had 
gone  on  for  three  or  four  years,  I  made  some  figures 
that  satisfied  me  that  there  was  something  wrong 
in  the  New  York  business.  I  became  more  and 
more  sure  of  this  until  the  time  fixed  for  the  part- 
nership to  expire.  Mr.  Armstrong  had  such  a  high 
opinion  of  Haven  that  he  would  not  believe  any 
harm  of  him.  He  told  Mr.  Brewster  that  I  had  a 
prejudice  against  Haven,  but  that  Mr.  Brewster  must 
not  let  that  affect  him.  I  told  Mr.  Brewster,  how- 
ever, that  I  was  not  willing  to  be  a  partner  any  longer 
in  the  New  York  store,  and  that  I  would  sell  it  out 
to  Haven  and  take  his  notes,  if  I  could  not  do  any 
better.  In  November,  1826,  when  the  partnership 
expired,  I  went  to  New  York  to  meet  Mr.  Arm- 
strong, who  had  been  travelling  in  the  South,  and 
Mr.  Armstrong  and  I  went  to  the  store  to  look 
over  matters.  By  good  luck  I  got  hold  of  Haven's 
check-book  and  clapped  it  under  my  coat,  but  went 
on  talking  about  selling  out  to  Haven  and  what  he 
ought  to  pay  me.  Finally  we  separated,  and  Haven 
agreed  to  meet  us  in  the  evening  at  Bunker's,  near 
the  Battery,  where  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Armstrong  and  I 
were  stopping.  When  I  reached  my  room  I  began  to 
study  that  check -book,  and  when  Mr.  Armstrong  and 
Mr.  Haven  came,  I  questioned  Haven  about  some  of 
the  checks  which  he  had  drawn.  I  began,  "Mr. 
Haven,  what  did  you  draw  that  four  thousand  dollar 


44  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

check  for  ?  "  He  could  not  recollect  anything  about 
it.  I  pointed  out  another  for  thirty-five  hundred 
dollars  and  another  for  twelve  hundred  dollars,  but 
he  could  not  tell  me  anything  about  them.  Finally 
I  said,  "  Here  is  one  for  twenty-four  hundred  dollars 
drawn  within  a  week ;  what  was  that  for  ?  "  He 
could  n't  tell.  The  terms  of  the  partnership  were 
that  no  purchase  amounting  to  more  than  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  no  note  for  any  sum,  was  to  be 
made  by  Haven  without  consulting  his  partners  in 
Boston.  I  kept  putting  questions  to  Haven  till  one 
o'clock,  and  Mr.  Armstrong  kept  pressing  him  to 
answer.  About  that  time  Mr.  Armstrong,  who  was 
pretty  tired,  as  he  had  been  travelling  till  late  the 
night  before,  went  downstairs  to  speak  to  his  wife. 
After  he  had  gone  I  pressed  Haven  more  strongly, 
and  after  about  half  an  hour  he  took  a  book  out  of 
his  pocket  and  showed  me  what  all  the  checks  were 
for,  and  how  all  the  money  had  been  expended. 
About  this  time  Mr.  Armstrong  came  back  and  I  told 
him  all  I  had  found  out,  —  that  Haven  had  been  buy- 
ing stocks  and  land,  and  had  been  shaving  notes 
with  our  money.  I  never  saw  Mr.  Armstrong  so 
excited  in  my  life.  He  broke  out:  "Mr.  Crocker 
has  always  said  there  was  something  wrong  here, 
but  I  always  refused  to  believe  it;  and  here  it  is  ten 
times  worse  than  he  ever  claimed!"  We  made 
Haven  give  us  a  check  for  the  amount  he  had  in  the 
bank,  about  five  thousand  dollars,  and  at  three  or 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  went  with  Haven  to 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  45 

his  house  in  Lispenard  Street  and  waked  his  wife 
and  got  the  deeds  to  the  twenty-six  up-town  lots 
which  he  had  bought  with  our  money,  paying  three 
or  four  hundred  dollars  on  a  lot.  He  also  signed  a 
dissolution  of  the  partnership,  and  I  went  to  the 
newspaper  office  and  had  the  notice  of  the  dissolu- 
tion put  in  the  paper.  In  the  morning  I  opened  the 
store  myself  and  took  possession. 

Mr.  Armstrong  came  in  early,  and,  about  the  time 
when  the  banks  opened,  it  occurred  to  me  that  Haven 
might  go  to  the  bank  and  draw  out  that  money.  I 
suggested  this  to  Mr.  Armstrong,  and  we  started  off 
on  a  run  down  the  street  in  the  rain,  —  it  was  raining 
like  guns,  —  and  we  went  into  the  bank  and  drew  the 
money ;  and  just  as  we  were  going  out  the  door  we 
met  Haven  coming  in.  Probably  if  we  had  been  five 
minutes  later  Haven  would  have  drawn  out  all  the 
money.  Mr.  Armstrong  said,  "Crocker,  how  came 
you  to  think  of  this  ?  "  1  told  him  that  when  I  had 
to  do  with  a  rogue  I  was  pretty  cautious.  After  I 
got  possession  of  Haven's  books  I  found  that  when 
he  had  been  writing  me  that  he  had  no  money,  he 
was  paying  out  thousands  of  dollars  for  stocks  or  for 
lots  of  land. 

I  hardly  ever  spoke  to  Haven  after  this.  We  con- 
cluded to  make  no  claim  on  the  lands  he  had  bought, 
as  the  amounts  remaining  to  be  paid  on  them  were 
so  large.  The  lots  were  on  West  Twenty-third  to 
Twenty-fifth  streets,  near  where  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Hotel  now  stands.  Haven  made  some  money,  I 


46  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

think,  out  of  these  lands,  but  subsequently  failed, 
and  was  in  reduced  circumstances  during  the  rest  of 
his  life.  He  died  a  few  years  ago. 

When  I  went  to  New  York  at  this  time  I  had  ex- 
pected to  be  gone  from  Boston  not  more  than  a  week, 
but  I  stayed  for  six  months  in  charge  of  the  store, 
till  I  sold  it  out.  I  boarded  at  the  Franklin  House, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  Broadway,  with  McNeil 
Seymour,  who  had  previously  kept  the  Marlboro 
Hotel  in  Boston,  and  who  had  the  Boston  custom. 
My  room  was  on  the  corner,  up  one  flight,  with  one 
window  on  Broadway  and  one  (the  southerly  one)  on 
the  side  street.  I  finally  sold  out  the  store  to  Daniel 
Appleton  and  Jonathan  Leavitt.  Appleton  and 
Leavitt  had  married  sisters,  two  Misses  Adams,  of 
Andover,  Mass.  Appleton  had  been  a  dry  goods  mer- 
chant before  he  bought  me  out,  but  had  failed  in  that 
business,  by  reason  of  the  failure  of  Adams  &  Emery. 
Mr.  Adams,  of  the  firm  of  Adams  &  Emery,  was  a 
brother  of  Appleton's  wife.  He  was  subsequently 
president  of  the  Firemen's  Insurance  Company  of 
Boston.  A  few  years  after  Appleton  &  Leavitt 
bought  me  out  they  separated,  and  Appleton  moved 
a  few  doors  nearer  the  park,  between  John  and 
Fulton  streets,  and  the  business  was  subsequently 
carried  on  in  the  name  of  D.  Appleton  &  Sons,  —  a 
firm  name  which  has  become  widely  known  in 
recent  years. 

John  Treadwell,  who  was  a  boy  in  the  employ  of 
Seymour  when  I  lived  at  his  house,  and  who  at- 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  47 

tended  to  my  washing  and  my  boots,  afterwards 
became  a  partner  with  Seymour,  and  still  later  kept 
the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  in  New  York,  when  it  was 
first  opened.  He  became  quite  wealthy.  When  I 
was  living  at  the  Franklin  House,  John  used  to 
make  something  by  letting  my  room,  with  my  per- 
mission, to  ladies  who  wanted  to  see  shows  passing 
up  Broadway. 

When  I  was  at  the  Franklin  House  there  was  a 
man  there  from  Kentucky,  named  Wykoff.  He  did 
not  pay  his  bills,  and  Seymour  told  him  he  must  go. 
He  got  the  notion  that  I  had  put  Seymour  up  to  tak- 
ing this  action,  and  one  evening  he  came  to  my  room 
and  charged  me  with  it,  and  challenged  me  to  meet 
him  the  next  morning  at  four  o'clock,  at  Hoboken, 
with  pistols.  He  was  a  tall,  straight  man,  with 
black  hair  and  whiskers,  and  a  very  black,  piercing 
eye.  I  told  him  that  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
matter,  and  that  it  was  then  so  late  that  I  could  not 
get  a  second  and  pistols  in  readiness  for  four  o'clock 
the  next  morning.  He  offered  me  his  pistols,  and 
said  I  might  take  my  choice.  I  managed  to  keep 
out  of  his  way  for  a  day  or  two,  and  he  had  to  leave 
the  hotel,  and  I  saw  no  more  of  him. 

Some  years  before  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Rail- 
road and  the  Western  Railroad  were  united  to  form 
the  Boston  and  Albany,  P.  P.  F.  Degrand,  Thomas 
J.  Lobdell,  and  I,  with  others,  as  a  committee  of 
the  Western  Railroad,  had  various  meetings  with 
Nathan  Hale,  William  Sturgis,  Eliphalet  Williams, 


48  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

David  Henshaw,  and  Samuel  Greeley  (my  old  precep- 
tor), a  committee  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Rail- 
road, to  endeavor  to  arrange  a  union  between  the  two 
roads.  On  behalf  of  the  Western  Railroad  we  offered 
to  unite  on  the  basis  of  giving  the  stockholders  in 
the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  for  every  five 
shares  that  they  owned  six  shares  in  the  stock  of  the 
new  corporation  to  be  formed  by  the  union  of  the  two 
roads,  while  the  stockholders  in  the  Western  Rail- 
road should  have  the  same  number  of  shares  in  the 
new  as  in  the  old  corporation.  The  Boston  and  Wor- 
cester Railroad  people  refused  to  accept  these  terms, 
and,  as  we  were  about  to  separate,  I  arose  and  said  that 
I  was  sorry  that  the  terms  which  we  had  reluctantly 
proposed  had  been  refused,  that  I  believed  the  roads 
ought  to  be  united,  and  that  I  hoped  they  would  be 
before  long,  and  that  the  time  was  not  far  distant 
when  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  would  be 
glad  to  unite  on  terms  which  should  give  the  West- 
ern the  same  advantages  which  we  had  proposed  to 
give  to  the  Worcester.  The  roads  were  finally  united 
on  the  terms  I  then  suggested;  that  is,  giving  each 
stockholder  in  the  Western  Railroad  six  shares  for 
every  five  that  he  owned,  and  giving  to  the  stock- 
holders in  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  only 
share  for  share. 

Crocker  &  Brewster  introduced  into  Boston  the 
first  iron-lever  printing-press.  It  was  manufactured 
by  John  L.  Wells,  a  Quaker  residing  in  Hartford, 
Conn.  We  subsequently  had  five  others  of  the  same 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER.  49 

manufacture.  We  also  printed  from  the  first  power 
press,  —  a  press  that  was  begun  by  T.  B.  Waite,  of 
the  firm  of  Wells  &  Libbey,  and  was  completed  by 
Prof.  Daniel  Treadwell  of  Harvard  College. 

In  1837,  when  so  many  people  failed,  including  all 
the  booksellers  in  Boston  except  Crocker  &  Brewster, 
our  firm  met  promptly  all  its  obligations,  as  indeed 
it  never  once  failed  to  do  throughout  the  whole  of 
the  long  period  of  its  existence. 

Crocker  &  Brewster  carried  on  business  in  the 
old  building  to  which  I  first  went  as  an  apprentice, 
for  fifty-three  years,  or  from  1811  to  1864.  Then 
we  moved  to  the  adjoining  building,  and  remained 
there  for  twelve  years,  or  until  1876,  when  we  relin- 
quished active  business  and  sold  out  all  our  stereo- 
type plates,  copyrights,  and  book  stock  to  H.  0. 
Houghton  &  Company. 

The  estate  on  Washington  Street  (now  numbered 
173  and  175,  but  formerly  numbered  47)  on  which 
I  began  my  business  life,  and  where  Crocker  & 
Brewster  did  business  for  so  many  years,  was  bought 
by  me  from  the  heirs  of  Mrs.  Armstrong  after  her 
death.1 

I  was  married  on  Feb.  11,  1829,  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Charles  Lowell,  to  Sarah  Kidder  Haskell,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Elias  Haskell  of  Boston.  At  this  time  I  was 
worth,  I  suppose,  some  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  dol- 
lars. For  one  year  after  my  marriage  I  lived  at 

i  This  estate  Mr.  Crocker  continued  to  own  until  the  time  of 
his  death.  By  his  will  he  devised  it  to  his  two  sons. 

4 


50  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

No.  60  High  Street,  on  the  corner  of  Atkinson  Street. 
Then  I  bought  the  house  on  Lynde  Street  next  north 
of  the  West  Church,  and  lived  there  for  eighteen 
years,  or  until  1847.  In  this  house  all  my  children 

—  Uriel  Haskell,  Sarah  Haskell,  and  George  Glover 

—  were  born.     In  1850   I  sold  this  house  to  Mr. 
George   A.    Cunningham,   but  in  1854  I  bought  it 
again.     In  1847  1  bought  and  moved  into  the  house 
No.  23  (afterwards  29)  Somerset  Street,  nearly  oppo- 
site Allston  Street.     There  I  lived  for  thirty-eight 
years,  or  until  1885,  when  the  estate  was  taken  by 
the  city  as  a  part  of  the  site  for  a  new  court-house. 
I  then  bought  the  house  No.    319   Commonwealth 
Avenue.1 

My  wife  died  Jan.   16,   1856,  at  the  age  of  fifty 
years. 


AT  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monu- 
ment Association,  held  June  17,  1885,  the  older 
members  of  the  association  gave  reminiscences  of  the 
visit  of  Lafayette  to  this  country  in  1824,  and  Mr. 
Crocker  spoke  as  follows :  — 

"My  recollections  of  Lafayette  are  that  I  was  in 
New  York  on  Lafayette's  arrival  in  1824,  being  then 
about  twenty-eight  years  of  age ;  that  there  was  no 

1  Mr.  Crocker  continued  to  reside  with  his  daughter  in  this 
house  until  his  death.  By  his  will  he  gave  it  to  his  daughter. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER.  51 

public  demonstration  on  that  occasion ;  that  on  the 
day  following  I  was  invited  by  an  officer  of  the  navy 
to  accompany  Lafayette  in  a  steamer  from  New  York 
to  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard;  that  there  were  only 
twenty  or  twenty-five  on  the  boat ;  that  on  our  arrival 
at  the  navy  yard  a  salute  was  fired  in  honor  of  the 
General;  and  that,  after  visiting  the  docks  and 
grounds  and  one  of  the  vessels,  we  took  a  boat,  in 
which  we  went  up  the  East  River  a  short  distance 
and  returned  by  Brooklyn  Heights,  the  Battery,  and 
the  Jersey  shore,  and  then  we  went  up  to  the  High- 
lands on  the  North  River,  having  been  absent  some 
four  or  five  hours.  While  on  the  boat  General  Lafay- 
ette recalled  several  reminiscences  of  the  days  when 
he  was  in  that  vicinity  during  the  Revolution. 

"From  New  York  Lafayette  came  to  Boston, 
where  he  was  received  with  great  public  parade  and 
universal  rejoicing.  At  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  my  partner  and 
myself  and  two  gentlemen  from  Connecticut,  one  of 
whom  was  afterwards  well  known  to  the  public  as 
"Peter  Parley,"  were  fortunate  in  securing  a  car- 
riage for  the  day,  and  as  fortunate  in  getting  a  good 
location  to  see  Lafayette  and  to  hear  Webster's 
address. 

"  Subsequently,  also,  at  the  dinner  on  Bunker  Hill 
proper,  to  which  the  company  marched  four  in  col- 
umn, we  had  seats  where  we  could  hear  the  after- 
dinner  eloquence  and  wit.  It  was  a  notable  gala 
day.  Everything  which  could  be  used  as  a  vehicle 


52  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

was  brought  into  requisition,  and  Charlestown  was 
crowded  with  people,  wagons,  and  horses.  After 
the  dinner  our  party  drove  to  Prospect  Hill  in 
Somerville,  to  the  Washington  Elm  in  Cambridge, 
and  to  other  points  of  Revolutionary  interest. " 


ADDITIONAL    FACTS. 


AS  has  been  before  stated,  the  firm  of  Crocker  & 
Brewster  retired  from  active  business  in  1876, 
but  the  partnership  was  not  then  dissolved,  and  in 
fact  continued  in  existence  until  it  was  terminated 
by  the  death  of  the  senior  partner. 

In  1868  the  firm  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  formation  of  their  partnership  by  a  festival  at 
the  house  of  the  senior  partner,  an  account  of  which 
festival,  taken  from  one  of  the  newspapers  of  the 
time  is  inserted  at  a  subsequent  page. 

On  Monday,  Nov.  29,  1886,  the  partners  celebrated 
at  Mr.  Crocker's  house  the  seventy  fifth  anniversary 
of  their  first  meeting  as  apprentices  in  1811.  Both 
gentlemen  were  then  in  good  health  and  stood  side 
by  side,  receiving  the  congratulations  of  the  numer- 
ous friends  and  distinguished  citizens  who  called  to 
pay  their  respects. 

On  the  ninetieth  birthday  of  Mr.  Crocker  (Sept. 
13,  1886)  he  was  visited  at  his  son's  residence  in 
Cohasset  by  Mr.  Brewster  and  by  very  many  of  his 
friends. 


54  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

When  the  body  of  Dr.  Parkman,  who  was  mur- 
dered by  Professor  Webster,  was  discovered,  Sheriff 
Eveleth,  who  was  also  coroner,  met  Mr.  Crocker, 
as  he  was  going  home  to  dinner,  and  stopping  him 
said:  "Mr.  Crocker,  you  are  the  very  man  I  want 
for  foreman  of  my  coroner's  jury."  Mr.  Crocker 
endeavored  to  persuade  the  sheriff  to  select  some 
other  person,  but  without  success.  Parting  from 
Mr.  Eveleth,  he  went  directly  home,  ordered  his 
dinner  to  be  got  ready  as  quickly  as  possible,  and 
immediately  after  dinner  obtained  his  horses  and 
carriage  and  started  on  his  afternoon  drive.  He  had 
barely  gone  when  the  sheriff  came  to  the  house  to 
summon  him.  Finding  that  Mr.  Crocker  had  es- 
caped, the  sheriff  went  for  his  partner,  Mr.  Brewster, 
who  was  thus  forced  to  fill  the  unpleasant  position 
of  foreman  of  the  coroner's  jury  in  the  celebrated 
Webster  case. 

Mr.  Crocker  always  derived  much  enjoyment  and 
much  benefit  from  travelling.  Even  in  his  later 
years  he  could  perform  with  ease  journeys  in  the 
cars  or  in  the  stage  coach  that  greatly  fatigued  those 
much  younger  than  he.  In  1871  he  made  a  trip  to 
California,  visiting  the  Yosemite  Valley,  the  Big 
Trees,  Los  Angeles,  and  other  places  of  interest. 
In  1874,  when  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  he  crossed 
the  ocean  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  his  life,  and 
spent  four  months  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the 
Continent,  apparently  enjoying  everything  as  fully 
and  suffering  as  little  fatigue  as  the  other  members 


MEMORIAL   OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  55 

of  his  party,  who  were  all  in  the  vigor  of  youth.  In 
September,  1883,  being  then  eighty-seven  years  of 
age,  he  went  with  his  partner,  Mr.  Brewster,  to  the 
White  Mountains  ;  and  as  an  illustration  of  his  en- 
durance it  may  be  mentioned  that  on  this  occasion 
he  left  Cohasset  in  the  morning  and  came  to  Boston 
and  there  took  the  nine  o'clock  train  for  the  moun- 
tains, where  he  arrived  at  about  three  o'clock ;  then, 
after  eating  his  dinner,  he  was  driven  in  the  afternoon 
to  the  top  of  Mount  Willard,  and  finished  the  day 
watching  the  dancing  in  the  parlor  of  the  hotel.  On 
a  succeeding  day  he  and  his  partner  visited  the  top  of 
Mount  Washington  together. 

Mr.  Crocker  became  a  member  of  the  Old  South 
Church  in  1831,  and  was  a  regular  attendant  at  that 
church  until  it  abandoned  its  old  location  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Washington  and  Milk  streets,  and  moved  to  the 
Back  Bay,  —  a  change  which  he  strongly  opposed. 

Mr.  Crocker  died  from  an  internal  hemorrhage  on 
July  19, 1887,  at  the  age  of  ninety  years,  ten  months, 
and  six  days.  He  was  at  the  time  at  the  residence 
of  his  son,  George  G.  Crocker,  on  Jerusalem  Road, 
Cohasset.  He  had  been  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  usual 
health  and  activity  until  within  a  few  days  of  his 
death.  He  was  buried  in  his  lot  on  Pilgrim  Path  at 
Mount  Auburn  Cemetery. 

Mr.  Osmyn  Brewster  survived  his  partner  for 
nearly  two  years.  He  died  at  his  residence,  No.  32 
Hancock  Street,  Boston,  on  July  15,  1889,  at  the  age 
of  nearly  ninety-two  years. 


LETTERS. 


LETTERS 

SHOWING  THE  MODE  OF  TRAVELLING  BETWEEN 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK  IN  1829,  AND  BETWEEN 
NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA  IN  1833. 

NEWPORT,  March  17,  1829. 

Tuesday,  5  o'clock  P.M. 

DEAR  SARAH,  —  After  leaving  you  about  half  an 
hour,  that  is,  at  half-past  five,  we  got  safely  started 
in  the  stage,  breakfasted  at  Dedham  at  half -past  six, 
where  I  took  two  cups  of  coffee,  a  beef  steak,  etc., 
and  proceeded ;  and  at  eleven  arrived  at  Providence, 
—  no  other  hindrance  than  breaking  the  tire  of  the 
wheel,  which  was  replaced  by  a  new  wheel  in  half 
an  hour.  On  arriving  at  the  boat  there  was  some 
little  snow,  but  it  was  thought  best  to  proceed  as 
far  as  this  place.  The  snow  continues,  but  the  Cap- 
tain thinks  the  Sound  is  no  place  for  his  boat,  the 
passengers,  nor  him,  and  we  shall  tarry  here  till  fair 
weather,  which  there  is  a  fair  probability  of  there 
being  by  the  morning.  We  shall  have  the  daylight 
for  the  passage,  and  I  hope  to  be  in  New  York  by 
to-morrow  (Wednesday)  evening;  but,  should  the 
storm  continue,  we  shall  not  start  from  this  place, 
as  the  Captain  is  a  very  prudent,  careful,  and  con- 
siderate man.  Among  the  passengers  are  Deacon 


60  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

Noyes,  of  the  firm  of  Maynard  &  Noyes,  Mr.  Joseph 
Thayer,  Mr.  J.  M.  Whidden,  Mr.  Ward,  late  of  the 
firm  of  Ropes  &  Ward,  and  Mr.  Hyde  of  Portland, 
a  bookseller,  and  his  wife.  I  am  now  in  a  book- 
seller's store  (Mr.  Callahan's),  and  have  begged  a 
sheet  of  paper,  ink,  pen,  etc.,  and  a  privilege  at  his 
desk  to  write  this,  which  he,  being  one  of  the  frater- 
nity, readily  and  obligingly  grants.  We  have  about 
sixty  passengers,  and  from  appearances,  there  being 
no  wind  and  but  very  little  snow,  there  is  but  little 
doubt  we  shall  have  a  safe  passage.  With  love  to 
your  parents,  sister  Hannah,  and  Abigail,  and  all 
inquiring  friends,  I  remain, 

Truly  and  affectionately  your  husband, 

URIEL  CROCKER. 

P.  S.  We  stopped  at  Providence  till  twelve  o'clock, 
arrived  at  this  place  at  three  P.  M.,  thirty  miles 
distant  from  Providence  and  seventy-two  miles  dis- 
tant from  you.  The  town  is  rather  pleasant,  but 
dull.  I  have  not  yet  seen  a  tavern,  neither  do  I 
want  to,  as  I  have  a  fine  berth  with  clean  sheets, 
and  there  is  good  provision  on  board,  at  least  if  I 
may  judge  from  the  dinner.  I  take  tea  on  board, 
as  do  all  the  passengers.  There  being  so  many,  we 
shall  pass  the  evening,  I  have  but  little  doubt,  very 
pleasantly,  but  not  quite  as  much  so  as  I  should  with 
you  in  my  own  hired  house.  Hope  you  will  not 
have  your  fears  raised  if  you  have  had  the  same 
quantity  of  snow  that  we  have.  Shall  write  you 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  61 

soon   after  my   arrival   at    New   York.      Till   then 
adieu,  with  best  wishes  from  yours  truly,  with  love, 

URIEL  CROCKER. 


NEWPORT,  March  18, 1829. 

DEAR  SARAH,  —  My  next  letter  I  intended  to  have 
written  you  from  New  York,  but  the  snow  and  lastly 
the  winds  have  kept  us  safe  in  the  harbor  of  Newport, 
where  there  is  a  strong  probability  of  our  continu- 
ing till  the  morning,  unless  the  wind  should  go  down 
with  the  sun.  You  have  ere  this  got  my  letter  dated 
yesterday  at  this  place,  by  which  you  will  learn  of 
my  journey  and  the  manner  in  which  I  expended  my 
time  till  then.  Last  evening,  after  two  cups  of 
coffee,  etc.,  and  walking  about  deck  half  an  hour,  I 
retired  to  rest,  that  is,  at  eight  o'clock.  There  was 
considerable  disturbance  on  deck,  first  getting  the 
steam  up  and  getting  passengers  aboard,  next  letting 
off  the  steam  and  making  fast  the  vessel,  etc.,  but 
none  of  these  things  disturbed  me,  neither  did  I  hear 
them.  At  about  four  I  woke  and  thought  from  the 
dashing  of  the  waves,  the  rocking  of  the  boat,  etc., 
she  must  be  moving  on,  and  accordingly  I  got  up  and 
went  on  deck.  You  may  judge  of  my  surprise  to 
find  her  still  at  the  wharf.  It  being  very  cold  and 
the  wind  strong,  I  returned  again  to  my  bunk,  and 
slept  till  seven,  making  up  my  ten  hours'  sleep. 
To-day  I  feel  very  smart,  have  not  been  to  the  boat 
since  breakfast,  but  amuse  myself  looking  round 


62  MEMORIAL  OF   URIEL   CROCKER. 

and  seeing  what  is  to  be  seen,  which  is  very  little 
indeed.  Dined  at  a  tavern  in  company  with  some 
of  the  passengers,  but  think  I  shall  take  the  remain- 
der of  my  meals  on  board.  Our  fare  there  is  very 
good,  which  is  what  I  cannot  say  of  that  at  the 
tavern,  and  costs  nothing,  —  at  least,  eight  dollars 
pays  all  expenses,  if  we  are  a  week  going.  With 
much  love  to  you  and  your  parents  and  sister,  I 
remain, 

Truly  yours, 

URIEL. 


ON   BOARD   STEAMBOAT    "  CHANCELLOR  LIVINGSTON," 

Half-past  nine  A.M.,  Thursday  morning, 

Forty-five  miles  from  New  York,  March  19,  1829. 

MY  DEAR  WIFE,  —  Having  taken  a  good  breakfast, 
the  weather  clear,  the  sun  shining,  and  everything 
pleasant  about  us,  and  a  fair  prospect  of  being  in 
New  York  by  two  o'clock,  I  thought  it  best  to  spend 
a  few  minutes  in  writing.  We  left  Newport  last 
evening  at  half-past  seven;  at  eight  I  turned  in, 
there  being  some  symptoms  of  seasickness,  and 
shortly  fell  asleep,  which  was  not  disturbed  till 
about  seven  this  morning,  and  then  only  by  the  pas- 
sengers rising  from  their  sleep.  Have  not  heard  from 
home  other  than  by  the  steamboat  "Washington," 
which  came  alongside  of  us  at  half-past  six  last 
evening,  while  lying  at  the  wharf  at  Newport.  Her 
passengers  left  Boston  on  Wednesday  morning.  1 
went  aboard,  but  could  find  no  one  whom  1  knew  or 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  63 

ever  saw.  She  immediately  started,  and  got  at  least 
ten  miles  before  we  moved  from  the  wharf.  Our 
boat  is  the  fastest,  as  we  passed  her  at  three  this 
morning,  and  she  is  now  in  the  rear  of  us  at  least 
eight  miles.  On  going  on  deck  soon  after  rising  I 
found  the  boat  nearly  opposite  New  Haven,  the 
steeples  plainly  in  view.  There  has  been  nothing 
since  I  left  Boston  but  what  has  passed  off  pleasantly, 
and  I  have  more  than  once  wished  you  were  with 
me  to  enjoy  it.  There  has  been  some  seasickness. 
The  ladies  have  all  been  sick,  more  or  less.  They 
went  ashore  at  Newport  on  Wednesday,  but  Tuesday 
night  they  had  a  bad  time  lying  at  the  wharf,  the  sea 
and  the  wind  were  so  violent,  —  so  much  so  that  it 
carried  away,  or  rather  broke,  the  topmast ;  but  they 
all  say,  that  is,  the  ladies,  they  feel  very  well  and 
have  enjoyed  themselves  much.  I  wrote  two  letters 
from  Newport,  one  on  Tuesday  evening,  and  the 
other  on  Wednesday,  which  you  will  probably  receive 
safely.  You  would  be  amused  to  see  us  here  in  the 
cabin.  There  are  two  tables,  at  each  of  which  there 
are  four  playing  whist ;  then  there  are  some  ten  or 
twelve  reading  books  or  tracts;  there  are  five  of  us 
writing  letters ;  some  peeping  out  of  their  berths ;  and 
others  walking,  —  all  for  amusement.  Shall  soon, 
that  is,  in  four  hours,  hope  to  be  in  New  York,  where 
I  shall  close  this  and  send  it  by  the  afternoon  steam- 
boat, which  you  will  get  by  Saturday  morning,  and 
I  hope  write  me  during  the  day  and  lodge  at  the  post- 
office  before  eight  in  the  evening,  as  the  mail  leaves 


64  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

at  ten,  and  address  to  me  at  Philadelphia.  This  ink 
and  paper  I  am  indebted  to  some  one,  but  to  whom  I 
know  not,  —  they  have  my  thanks.  Adieu,  from  your 

URIEL. 
We  move  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an  hour. 

NEW  YORK.. 

P.  S.  I  arrived  here  at  twenty  minutes  past  one, 
and  find  myself  at  the  Franklin  House.  There  are 
some  of  the  old  waiters,  but  the  boarders  are  all 
new  faces,  —  only  one  Boston  face,  and  he  one  with 
whom  I  do  not  wish  to  associate.  Have  delivered 
B.  F.  Wheelwright's  letters,  called  on  him  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  Appleton.  He  is  a  likely  looking 
and,  I  understand  from  Mr.  A.,  a  real  business  man. 
He  is  doing  well.  Have  received  one  letter  from 
Mr.  Brewster  this  morning.  I  got  here  before  me. 
Shall  leave  here  Saturday  morning  for  Philadelphia, 
where  I  hope  to  see  a  letter  from  you.  The  boat  I 
came  on  leaves  again  at  five  this  afternoon,  and 
Deacon  Lambert  has  kindly  consented  to  take  this 
and  deliver  it.  Boston  folks  are  frequently  seen  in  the 
streets.  I  noticed  a  number  in  walking  down  Broad- 
way to  Wall  Street.  My  countenance  is  not  changed 
much,  as  an  old  brother  boarder  recognized  me  at  a 
distance.  He  seemed  much  pleased  and  wishes  my 
company  an  evening,  but  my  time  is  so  employed 
I  shall  not  be  able  to  grant  it.  With  love  to  your 
parents  and  sister,  and  much  to  you,  I  remain 
Your  beloved  husband, 

URIEL  CROCKER. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER  65 

NEW  YORK,  March  20, 1829, 
Friday  noon. 

MY  DEAR  WIFE,  — Having  a  few  minutes  time, 
and  an  opportunity  of  sending  you,  I  improve  it. 
The  weather  here  is  very  dull  and  snowy.  Saw  Mr. 
Bogart  in  the  street  this  forenoon.  His  wife  came 
on  the  "  Benjamin  Franklin, "  which  left  Providence 
yesterday  afternoon,  and  arrived  here  at  five  o'clock. 
Passengers  only  twenty-four  hours  from  Boston. 
Among  them  is  Mr.  Gray,  of  the  firm  of  Hilliard, 
Gray,  &  Company.  Left  the  letter  for  Messrs. 
Wards;  they  say  they  shall  probably  get  the  notes 
due  from  Elwell  to  your  father.  Mr.  Lorenzo 
Draper  is  here,  that  left  your  street  yesterday  at  five 
A.  M.,  and  also  Mr.  Benjamin  French,  and  as  they 
do  not  say  anything  about  fires  or  other  accidents, 
I  presume  all  is  safe.  Am  now  bound  up  Broadway 
to  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng's.  With  much  love  to  all, 

Yours  truly, 

URIEL  CROCKER. 


PHILADELPHIA,  March  14, 1833. 
Thursday  morn. 

MY  DEAR  WIFE,  —  I  arrived  here  yesterday,  as  I 
had  purposed,  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  having 
left  New  York  at  half-past  six,  arrived  at  Amboy  by 
steamboat  at  nine,  thence  by  railroad  thirty-five 
miles  to  Bordentown,  where  we  arrived  at  half-past 
twelve,  thence  by  steamboat  again  to  this  city.  The 

5 


66  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

railroad  cars  carry  twenty-four,  and  are  drawn  each 
by  two  horses.  There  were  four  cars  that  came, 
or  ninety-six  passengers.  We  met  eight  returning, 
or  about  two  hundred  passengers.  I  cannot  say 
that  I  am  used  to  it,  or  that  it  is  more  pleasant  than 
stages.  On  the  contrary,  I  prefer  the  latter;  there 
is  not  the  monotonous,  continual  rumbling  in  stages 
there  is  on  a  railroad.  The  latter,  however,  appear 
to  be  perfectly  safe,  more  so  if  anything  than  stages. 

Your  affectionate  husband, 

URIEL  CROCKER. 


LIST 

OF 

SOME    OF    THE    OFFICES    HELD   BY 
URIEL  CROCKER. 


OLD  COLONY  RAILROAD  COMPANY.  Director  from  1844 
to  1850,  and  from  1863  till  his  death. 

NORTHERN  (N.  H.)  RAILROAD  COMPANY.  Director  from 
1854  till  his  death. 

CONCORD  RAILROAD  COMPANY.  Director  from  1846  to 
1866. 

ATLANTIC  AND  PACIFIC  RAILROAD  COMPANY.  Director 
from  1868  to  1874.  Vice-President  from  1870  to 
1873.  President  in  1874. 

SOUTH  PACIFIC  RAILROAD  COMPANY.     Director  in  1870. 

ST.  Louis  &  SAN  FRANCISCO  RAILROAD  COMPANY.  Direc- 
tor in  1877. 

PROPRIETORS  OF  THE  REVERE  HOUSE.  President  and 
Director  from  1855  till  his  death. 

UNITED  STATES  HOTEL  COMPANY.  Director  from  1848 
till  his  death.  President  from  1863  till  his  death. 

SOUTH  COVE  CORPORATION.  Director  from  1840  till  his 
death.  President  from  1849  till  his  death. 

SOUTH  BAY  IMPROVEMENT  COMPANY.  President  and  Di- 
rector from  1877  till  his  death. 

TREMONT  NAIL  COMPANY.  Director  from  1858  to  1879. 
President  from  1872  to  1879. 


68  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

BUNKER   HILL   MONUMENT   ASSOCIATION.      Director  from 
1833    till   1869.      Vice-President    from    1869   till   his 
death. 
MASSACHUSETTS     CHARITABLE     MECHANIC     ASSOCIATION. 

Treasurer  from  1833  to  1841. 
MASSACHUSETTS  CHARITABLE  FIRE  SOCIETY.     Vice-Presi- 

dent  in  1874  and  1875.     President  in  1876  and  1877. 
MASSACHUSETTS  CHARITABLE  SOCIETY.    President  in  1858. 

Treasurer  from  1859  to  1881. 
A  REPUBLICAN  INSTITUTION.     Became  a  member  in  1848. 

Was  Director,  Vice-President,  and  President. 
BOSTON  DISPENSARY.      Member  of  Board  of  Managers 

from  1838  till  his  death. 

MOUNT  AUBURN  CEMETERY.     Trustee  from  1856  to  1865. 
OLD  SOUTH  SOCIETY.     Member  of  Standing   Committee 

from  1836  to  1857,  being  Chairman  of  the  Committee 

from  1848  to  1856. 

He  was  also  one  of  the  original  Corporators  of  the 
Franklin  Savings  Bank  of  the  City  of  Boston  ;  an  Over- 
seer of  the  Boston  House  of  Correction ;  a  Trustee  of 
the  Boston  Lying-in  Hospital ;  and  a  Member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  the  New  England 
Historic-Genealogical  Society,  the  Bostonian  Society,  etc. 

The  Honorary  Degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was  con- 
ferred upon  Mr.  Crocker  by  Dartmouth  College  in  1866. 


CROCKER   GENEALOGY. 


WILLIAM  CROCKER  married  ALICE  in  1636. 

Their  children  were,  — 

JOHN,  born  May  1,  1637. 

ELIZABETH,   born   Sept.   22,   1639,   died  May  16, 

1658. 

SAMUEL,  born  July  3,  1642. 
Job,  born  March  7,  1644,  died  March,  1719. 
JOSIAH,  born  Sept.  19,  1647. 
ELEAZER,  born  July  21,  1650. 
JOSEPH,  born  1654. 

He  married,  secondly,  PATIENCE,  the  widow  of  ROBERT 
PARKER  and  daughter  of  ELDER  HENRY  COBB.  His  will 
is  dated  Sept.  6,  1692. 

JOB   CROCKER  son  of  WILLIAM,  married  MARY  WAL- 
LEY  in  November,  1668. 

Their  children  were,  — 

A  son,  born  Oct.  1669. 

Samuel,  born  May  15,  1671,  died  in  1718. 

THOMAS,  born  Jan.  19,  1674. 

He  married,  secondly,  Hannah  Taylor  on  July  19, 
1680,  and  their  children  were,  — 

MARY,  born  June  29,  1681. 
JOHN,  born  Feb.  24,  1683. 


70  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

HANNAH,  born  Feb.  2,  1685. 

ELIZABETH,  born  May  15,  1688. 

SARAH,  born  Jan.  19,  1690. 

JOB,  born  April  4,  1694,  died  May  24,  1731. 

DAVID,  born  Sept.  5,  1697. 

THANKFUL,  born  June  16,  1700. 

SAMUEL  CROCKER,    son    of    JOB,    married    SARAH 
PARKER. 

Their  children  were,  — 

SAMUEL,  born  Dec.  12,  1697. 

CORNELIUS,  born  Oct.  24,  1698,  died  young. 

MARY,  born  April  8,  1700. 

PATIENCE,  born  April  18,  1701. 

ELIZABETH,  born  Feb.  21,  1703. 

Cornelius  (2d),  born  Mar.  23,  1704,  died  Dec.  12, 

1784. 

ROWLAND,  born  June  18,  1705. 
GERSHOM,  bora  Dec.  1706. 
EBENEZER,  born  June  5,  1710. 
BENJAMIN,  born  July,  1711. 
SARAH. 
REBECCA. 
RACHEL. 
DAVID. 

He  also  had  a  daughter,  TABITHA,  by  a  second  wife, 
JUDITH  LEAVIT. 

CORNELIUS  CROCKER,  son  of  SAMUEL,  married  LYDIA 
JENKINS. 
Their  children  were,  — 

ELIJAH,  born  April  12,  1729. 

ELISHA,  born  Sept.  14,  1730. 

SAMUEL,  born  July  29,  1732. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  71 

JOSEPH,  born  April  12,  1734. 

LYDIA,  born  1739. 

CORNELIUS,  born  Aug.  20,  1740. 

3o0iaij,  born  Dec.  30,  1744,  died  May  4,  1780. 

SARAH,  bora  1749. 

JOSIAH  CROCKER,  son  of  CORNELIUS,  married  DE- 
BORAH DAVIS,  daughter  of  DANIEL  DAVIS,  of  Barn- 
stable,  on  October  6,  1765. 

Their  children  were,  — 

DEBORAH,  born  1766. 

ROBERT,  1767. 

Uriel,  born  1768,  died  April  12,  1813. 

JOSIAH. 

MEHITABLE. 

URIEL  CROCKER,  son  of  JOSIAH,  married,  first,  MARY 
EATON,  daughter  of  ISRAEL  EATON,  of  Marblehead, 
and,  secondly,  MARY  JAMES,  daughter  of  CAPT.  RICH- 
ARD JAMES,  of  Marblehead,  in  February,  1792. 

The  children   of  URIEL   CROCKER  and  MARY  JAMES 
were,  — 

MARY,  born  Nov.  22,  1792,  died  Jan.  2,  1876. 
RICHARD  JAMES,  born  Oct.  19, 1794,  died  April,  1795. 
{Uriel,  born  Sept.  13,  1796,  died  July  19,  1887. 
DEBORAH,  born  Nov.  12,  1798,  died  Sept.  6,  1881. 
RICHARD  JAMES,  born  Oct.  29,  1800,  died  March 

9,  1875. 

JOSIAH,  born  Nov.  9,  1802,  died  March  24,  1890. 
ABIGAIL,  born  Oct.  15,  1805,  died  July  25,  1889. 
FRANCIS  BOARDMAN,  April  17,  1808,  died  July  12, 

1813. 
ELIZABETH  JAMES,  born  Oct.  9,  1809,  died  April, 

1810. 


72  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

URIEL  CROCKER,  son  of  URIEL,  married  SARAH  KID- 
DER  HASKELL,  daughter  of  ELIAS  HASKELL,  of  Boston, 
on  Feb.  11,  1829. 

Their  children  are,  — 

URIEL  HASKELL,  born  Dec.  24,  1832. 
SARAH  HASKELL,  born  Sept.  8,  1840. 
GEORGE  GLOVER,  born  Dec.  15,  1843. 

URIEL  HASKELL  CROCKER  married  CLARA  GAR- 
LAND BALLARD,  daughter  of  JOSEPH  BALLARD,  of 
Boston,  on  Jan.  15,  1861. 

Their  children  are,  — 

GEORGE  URIEL,  born  Jan.  9,  1863. 
JOSEPH  BALLARD,  born  July  8,  1867. 
EDGAR,  born  Oct.  22,  1873. 

GEORGE  GLOVER  CROCKER  married  ANNIE  BLISS 
KEEP,  daughter  of  NATHAN  C.  KEEP,  of  Boston,  on 
June  19,  1875. 

Their  children  are,  — 

GEORGE  GLOVER,  born  April  16,  1877. 
MARGARET,  born  April  9,  1878. 
COURTENAY,  born  Feb.  4,  1881. 
MURIEL,  born  March  30,  1885. 
LYNEHAM,  born  Feb.  18,  1889. 

GEORGE  URIEL  CROCKER  married  EMMA  LILIAN 
AYLSWORTH,  daughter  of  HIRAM  B.  AYLSWORTH,  of 
Providence,  R.  I.,  on  Oct.  4  1887. 

They  have  a  child,  — 

ELEANOR,  born  June  9,  1890. 


JFffttetj)  annftoersarp 

OF    THE 

FORMATION    OF    THE  PARTNERSHIP 

OF 

CROCKER  &  BREWSTER. 
1818-1868. 


AN    ACCOUNT 

OF  THE 

CELEBRATION  OF  THE  FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY 
OF  THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  PARTNERSHIP  OF 
CROCKER  &  BREWSTER. 

[From  the  "Boston  Courier,"  of  Nov.  13,  1868.] 

ONE  of  the  most  singularly  pleasant  social  gath- 
erings of  which  it  is  possible  to  conceive  took 
place  on  Monday  evening  of  last  week  at  the  house 
of  one  of  our  citizens.  It  was  to  celebrate  the  anni- 
versary of  the  formation  of  a  business  firm  the 
foundations  of  whose  honorable  and  prosperous 
career  were  well  laid  long  before  Boston  became  a 
city,  and  when  the  inhabitants  were  contented 
with  the  name  and  well-earned  reputation  of  the 
Town  of  Boston.  The  old  publishing  house  of 
Crocker  &  Brewster,  in  brief,  commemorated  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  formation  of  their  long- 
respected  partnership;  and,  considering  the  many 
interesting  circumstances  of  its  history  and  especially 
the  survivorship  of  both  partners,  after  this  pro- 
tracted period,  in  good  health,  still  carrying  on  the 
business,  and  with  the  apparent  promise  of  years  yet 
before  them  (a  case  of  very  rare  occurrence,  espe- 


76  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

cially  in  this  country),  the  event  well  deserved  to  be 
celebrated  by  a  cheerful  festival.  Accordingly  mul- 
titudes of  friends,  old  and  new,  as  well  ladies  as 
gentlemen,  were  delighted  to  come  together  on  the 
evening  in  question  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  Mr. 
Uriel  Crocker,  the  senior,  though  not  much  the 
senior,  partner  of  the  firm.  Among  the  guests  of 
various  professions  and  occupations,  —  printers,  pub- 
lishers, bank-presidents,  merchants,  and  others,  - 
were  Hon.  Samuel  Hooper,  member  of  Congress ;  our 
present  mayor,  Dr.  Shurtleff,  and  his  predecessors 
in  office,  Messrs.  Rice,  Lincoln,  Wightman,  and 
Norcross;  and  Hon.  Charles  Theodore  Russell,  who 
formerly  served  Cambridge  in  the  same  capacity. 
These  few  names,  out  of  many,  will  show  that  repre- 
sentatives of  all  parties  were  present;  and  it  was 
extremely  pleasant  to  observe  that  all  diversities  of 
opinion  seemed  to  be  forgotten,  and  that  all  present 
met  on  a  common  footing  of  friendly  intercourse. 

Nowhere  but  in  New  England,  and  perhaps  in 
Scotland,  could  precisely  such  a  party  have  taken 
place.  A  certain  vein  of  what  was  most  praise- 
worthy in  Puritanism  mingled  not  at  all  inharmo- 
niously  with  the  festivities  of  the  hour.  After  time 
had  been  allowed  for  a  full  flow  of  conversation,  the 
attention  of  the  assembled  guests  was  called  to  a 
ceremony  peculiarly  fitting  the  occasion.  The  re- 
spected partners  stood  together  in  the  centre  of  the 
room,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Blagden,  of  the  Old  South 
Church,  long  the  pastor  of  both  these  gentlemen, 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER.  77 

addressed  them.  We  understand  that  the  excellent 
clergyman  had  been  informed  that  he  would  be 
expected  to  offer  prayer;  but  a  change  in  the  ar- 
rangements was  thought  best  after  the  guests  came 
together,  and  Dr.  Blagden's  address,  therefore,  was 
quite  extemporaneous.  We  have  never  heard  one 
more  truly  appropriate  and  impressive,  and  the  whole 
scene  was,  indeed,  peculiarly  but  most  agreeably 
affecting.  Mr.  Crocker  responded  at  length,  and 
it  gives  us  much  pleasure  to  print  his  remarks,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  singular  interest  of  the  simple 
narrative,  but  because  of  the  beautiful  and  salutary 
lesson  which  it  sets  forth.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
exercises  the  company  repaired  to  the  bountifully 
spread  tables;  and  here  the  Eev.  Dr.  Anderson 
offered  a  brief  and  fervent  prayer,  to  which  every 
heart,  we  are  sure,  responded.  As  the  hour  grew 
later,  the  older  guests  began  to  retire,  but  the 
younger  ones  remained  and  enjoyed  the  music  of  the 
fine  band  in  attendance.  All  the  incidents  were,  in- 
deed, of  very  uncommon  interest,  —  of  a  character 
one  is  rarely  permitted  to  enjoy  with  such  unalloyed 
pleasure,  which  none  who  were  present  would  have 
willingly  missed,  and  to  which  all  will  look  back 
with  heartful  satisfaction. 


78  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 


ADDRESS   OF  REV.  DR.  BLAGDEN. 

MB.  CROCKER  AND  MR.  BREWSTER,  —  It  gives  me 
great  pleasure  to  be  honored  as  the  medium  of  your 
many  friends  here  present  this  evening,  in  congratu- 
lating you,  as  I  heartily  do,  on  the  arrival  of  this  fif- 
tieth anniversary  of  your  connection,  as  partners,  in 
the  business  of  life.  And  I  cannot  omit  the  duty, 
either  as  a  man  or  as  a  minister,  of  uniting  with 
you  and  your  friends  in  thanking  God  that  he  has 
so  preserved  and  prospered  you  as  to  allow  of  your 
meeting  us  under  such  happy  circumstances,  with 
your  children  and  children's  children  around  you. 

It  is  not  often,  gentlemen,  that  two  partners  are 
permitted  to  meet  thus,  in  an  unbroken  partnership, 
after  half  a  century  of  years.  And  it  speaks  much 
in  favor  of  the  good  temper  of  each  of  you  that,  after 
all  the  toils,  temptations,  and  trials  of  business  you 
now  meet  us  so  harmoniously.  It  illustrates,  in  part, 
the  truth  of  the  proverb,  "  He  that  is  slow  to  anger 
is  better  than  the  mighty;  and  he  that  ruleth  his 
own  spirit,  than  he  that  taketh  a  city." 

It  is  also  a  subject  of  congratulation  for  us  and 
for  you,  on  this  occasion,  to  think  and  speak  of  the 
nature  of  the  calling  in  which  you  have  both  been 
engaged.  It  has  been  in  the  occupation  of  spreading 
abroad  good  learning  in  the  minds  of  your  fellow- 
citizens  and  neighbors,  in  the  country  and  the  com- 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER.  79 

monwealth;  and  there  is  not,  probably,  a  family  of 
your  many  friends  represented  here  this  evening,  the 
members  of  which  have  not  been  benefited  by  the 
kinds  of  useful  knowledge  you  have  been  engaged 
in  sending  through  the  community. 

I  may  also,  in  behalf  of  all  here  present,  speak  to 
you  as  printers  and  booksellers  in  our  common- 
wealth. I  understand  that  the  venerated  Isaiah 
Thomas  of  Worcester,  was  the  teacher  and  guide  of 
several  of  the  old  firms  in  your  profession  in  this 
city,  as  well  as  of  the  late  lamented  Mr.  Armstrong, 
under  whose  auspices  you  were  both  prepared  and 
introduced  into  your  calling.  And  I  remember  that 
seven  years  ago,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  you  enjoyed 
an  occasion,  when  I  could  not  be  present,  of  com- 
memorating the  beginning  of  your  mutual  appren- 
ticeship with  him.  So  that  to-night  we  may  recall 
together  not  only  fifty,  but  fifty-seven  years  of  life 
in  which  you  have  been  happily  associated  with  each 
other.  As  we  think  with  you  now  of  those  departed 
years,  I  am  reminded  of  a  true  and  beautiful  senti- 
ment of  Wordsworth,  not  inappropriate  to  this 
hour : — 

"  My  heart  leaps  up  when  I  behold 
A  rainbow  in  the  sky. 

So  was  it  when  my  life  began ; 

So  is  it  now  I  am  a  man ; 

So  let  it  be  when  I  grow  old, 
Or  let  me  die. 

The  child  is  father  of  the  man ; 

And  I  would  wish  my  days  to  be 

Bound  each  to  each  by  natural  piety." 


80  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

I  trust,  gentlemen,  that  your  days  may  be  thus 
bound  together  by  a  true  as  well  as  a  natural  piety. 
Then,  when  you  shall  be  called  home,  —  and  late  may 
it  be !  —  your  children  and  your  children's  children 
will  arise  up  and  call  you  blessed.  But  indeed, 
gentlemen,  I  am  happy  to  see,  as  we  look  on  both  of 
you,  that  there  seems  to  be  in  you,  as  soldiers  some- 
times say,  a  decade  of  campaigns  yet  for  fighting  in 
the  battle  of  life. 

Let  me  again  congratulate  you,  as  I  take  your 
hands,  not  only  for  these  many  friends,  but  also  for 
myself  personally,  on  the  arrival  and  enjoyment  of 
this  happy  occasion.  "The  Lord  bless  and  keep 
you,  and  be  gracious  unto  you ;  the  Lord  lift  up  his 
countenance  upon  you,  and  give  you  peace. " 


ME.  CROCKER'S  REPLY. 

FOB  some  reason  or  other  old  printers  have  a 
habit  of  telling,  and  sometimes  of  publishing,  long 
stories  about  themselves.  One  of  them  called  his 
book  "The  Life  and  Errors  of  John  Dunton,"  in 
which,  by  the  way,  he  gives  an  account  of  his  visit 
to  our  Boston  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
years  ago.  I  have  no  intention  of  rivalling  him,  or 
Benjamin  Franklin,  or  Joseph  T.  Buckingham,  or 
Charles  Knight,  or  Peter  Parley,  in  autobiography; 
but,  on  such  an  occasion  as  this,  the  thoughts  will  run 
back  to  old  times ;  and  perhaps  I  shall  be  pardoned 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  81 

if  I  talk  a  little  while  about  myself,  or  I  would  rather 
say  about  the  firm  of  Crocker  &  Brewster. 

Mr.  Brewster  and  I  first  met  in  the  year  1811,  as 
apprentices  of  the  late  Samuel  T.  Armstrong.  It 
was  in  the  old  building  which  stood  on  the  same  lot 
where  we  spent  fifty-four  of  the  fifty-seven  years 
that  we  have  been  together,  the  old  number  being 
50  Cornhill;  that  is,  old  Cornhill,  now  forming  a 
part  of  Washington  Street.  We  left  it  only  three 
years  ago,  when  we  removed  to  the  adjoining  store. 
I  had  been  an  apprentice  about  two  months  when 
Mr.  Brewster  came.  It  was  pleasant  to  see  him,  as 
it  removed  from  me  the  title  which  the  youngest 
apprentice  in  a  printing-office  has  affixed  to  his  name. 
I  well  remember  how  the  young  apprentice  looked, 
—  a  plump,  red-cheeked  boy,  giving  good  promise  of 
the  healthy  and  manly  proportions  into  which  he 
afterwards  expanded.  I  do  not  care  about  hearing 
his  description  of  my  appearance  at  that  time. 

Our  relations  to  each  other  and  to  Mr.  Armstrong, 
during  our  apprenticeship,  were  very  pleasant.  Mr. 
Brewster  and  I  were  the  two  youngest  of  the  eight 
apprentices  in  the  office ;  and  we,  together  with  Mr. 
Parker,  who,  I  am  happy  to  say,  is  here  to-night, 
are  the  only  ones  who  now  remain.  Our  partnership 
with  Mr.  Armstrong  commenced  Nov.  1,  1818,  and 
continued  till  April  1,  1825,  when  it  was  dissolved. 
We  were,  however,  after  this  time  more  or  less  con- 
nected with  him  until  his  complete  withdrawal  from 
all  business  in  1840;  and  his  daily  visits  to  our 


82  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

counting-room  continued  till  the  very  day  of  his 
death.  Of  Mr.  Brewster  and  myself  the  fellowship 
in  business  and  in  friendship  will,  I  trust,  never  be 
dissolved.  During  all  the  days  of  the  seven  years  of 
our  apprenticeship  and  of  our  fifty  years  of  partner- 
ship I  have  never  received  one  unkind  word  from  him, 
nor  do  I  believe  that  he  ever  received  one  from  me. 
If  he  did,  I  certainly  never  intended  it,  as  I  know 
that  he  never  deserved  it.  As  I  think  of  our  con- 
nection for  fifty-seven  years  as  partners  and  friends, 
I  cannot  be  too  grateful  to  one  whom  I  always  found 
so  faithful  and  so  kind.  You  will,  therefore,  excuse 
me  if  I  take  from  the  Good  Book  a  text  for  each  of 
my  children  to  remember :  u  Thine  own  friend,  and 
thy  father's  friend,  forsake  not." 

On  Nov.  1,  1818  —  just  fifty  years  ago  yesterday 
—  our  partnership  agreement  was  drawn  up  and  wit- 
nessed by  Jeremiah  Evarts,  the  father  of  William 
M.  Evarts,  the  present  attorney-general  of  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Evarts  was  pale  and  slender,  and  in 
this  respect,  and  in  general  features,  was  much  like 
his  son.  He  also  would  have  been  distinguished  in 
law  and  in  politics,  if  he  had  not  chosen  to  devote 
himself,  for  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  to  religious 
objects  only. 

In  the  arrangement  of  our  business,  Mr.  Brewster 
attended  chiefly  to  the  bookstore.  I  directed  the 
printing-office,  the  latter  having  been  wholly  in  my 
charge  since  I  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  The 
numerous  persons  in  our  employ,  —  and  there  were 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER.  83 

in  former  years  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  in  the 
printing-office  alone,  —  were  paid  in  full  every  Satur- 
day night.  This  rule  we  have  constantly  adhered  to. 
The  funds  of  the  firm  have  always  been  in  charge  of 
Mr.  Brewster,  who  from  them,  I  am  happy  to  say, 
has  always  been  able  and  willing  to  supply  the  "  food 
and  raiment  "  wants  of  the  poor  printer,  his  partner. 
However  idle  we  may  have  been  lately,  we  gave  to 
our  business  for  many  years  all  our  industry  and 
skill ;  and  we  have  always  been  so  successful  as  to 
be  able  promptly  to  meet  all  our  liabilities,  and  this 
too  without  having  ever  paid  one  dollar  of  extra 
interest;  and  I  am  glad  to  add  that  we  never  re- 
ceived one. 

We  once,  however,  came  very  near  being  compelled 
to  pay  extra  interest.  One  of  our  insurance  compa- 
nies l  had  elected  to  the  office  of  president  a  man 
whom  I  had  long  known.  He  was  very  desirous  I 
should  become  a  stockholder  in  his  company,  and  thus 
aid  him  in  his  new  office,  which  I  did.  This  office 
had  banking  privileges  for  one  half  of  its  capital, 
and  he  requested  that,  when  I  wanted  funds,  I  should 
borrow  them  at  his  office.  Our  firm,  accordingly, 
once  borrowed  of  him  several  thousand  dollars,  giv- 
ing good  bank-stock  as  collateral.  When  the  money 
became  due,  he  did  not  wish  it  paid,  though  we  were 
ready,  and  expected  to  pay  it.  At  his  desire  we  let 
it  remain  for  nearly  two  years,  when,  the  money 
market  being  very  tight  (this  was  in  1836),  he 

1  The  National  Insurance  Company  is  here  referred  to. 


84  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  demand  its  pay- 
ment, or  interest  at  two  per  cent  a  month,  stating 
that  there  was  another  firm  that  would  take  the 
money  at  that  rate.  We,  however,  fortunately  were 
able,  and  paid  the  note.  Shortly  afterwards,  Mr. 
Joseph  T.  Buckingham,  the  editor  of  the  "  Courier, "  in 
a  conversation  with  me  on  the  scarcity  of  money  and 
the  high  rate  of  interest,  said  that  he  had  received 
several  communications  complaining  that  this  insur- 
ance office  was  loaning  money  and  exacting  more 
than  the  legal  interest.  I  thereupon  stated  that  I 
had  no  doubt  of  it;  that  the  company  in  question 
had  demanded  two  per  cent  a  month  of  us.  This,  he 
at  once  said,  ought  to  be  and  should  be  published. 
Against  this  I  remonstrated,  saying  that  he  must  not 
publish  it  till  he  had  liberty  from  my  partner,  whom 
I  would  consult ;  but,  without  waiting  to  hear  from 
me,  an  article  appeared  on  the  following  morning 
in  the  "Courier,"  giving  the  name  of  the  insurance 
company  in  full;  and  the  facts  were  stated  in  Mr. 
Buckingham's  strong  and  severe  style.1  The  presi- 
dent of  the  company  called  on  him,  and  I  was  given 
as  the  authority.  The  president  then  called  on  me, 
and  in  a  loud  and  excited  manner  stated  that  it  was 
a  false  and  libellous  article,  and  ordered  me  to  con- 
tradict it  at  once,  or  I  should  be  prosecuted  for  a 
libel  on  the  company,  and  should  suffer  the  severest 

1  The  article  here  referred  to  may  be  found  in  the  "  Boston 
Courier"  of  Thursday,  Dec.  8,  1836.  Further  articles  on  the 
same  subject  appeared  in  the  same  paper  on  Dec.  10  and  Dec.  13. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  85 

penalties  of  the  law  for  that  offence.  I  frankly  stated 
that  I  had  not  desired  its  publication;  but  it  was 
published,  it  was  true,  and  I  could  not  and  should 
not  contradict  one  word.  He  then  said  he  should 
call  a  meeting  of  his  directors  that  day,  who  would 
pass  votes  that  would  injure  my  character  and  credit, 
and  place  me  where  I  ought  to  be.  I  thereupon 
politely  opened  the  door,  and  requested  him  to  pro- 
ceed forthwith,  asserting  that  I  was  ready  and  will- 
ing to  meet  the  case  before  his  directors  and  before 
the  public.  In  the  forenoon,  as  I  went  down  State 
Street,  I  found  several  parties  of  gentlemen  talking 
about  the  article  in  the  "Courier."  I  called  on  a 
director  of  the  company,  and  requested  him  to  put 
one  question  when  the  board  assembled.  This  he 
promised  to  do,  and  did.  The  question  was,  Has 
this  office  ever  taken  extra  interest  ?  And  when  put, 
it  was  answered  in  the  affirmative.  This  was  pro- 
nounced by  all  to  be  wrong;  it  was  agreed  that  it 
could  not  be  sustained,  and  that  the  charter  of  the 
company  was  in  jeopardy,  if  not  forfeited ;  and  the 
meeting  ended  without  having  been  formally  organ- 
ized. The  next  day  the  "  Courier  "  had  an  additional 
article  even  more  severe,  which  was  followed  by 
others.  Shortly  afterwards  the  directors  of  the  com- 
pany came  together  and  passed  votes  ordering  all 
extra  interest  that  had  been  taken  to  be  refunded, 
and  it  was  done. 

When  the  legislature  next  came  together,  which 
was  in  about  a  month,   they  appointed  a  committee 


86  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

to  investigate  the  subject.  The  committee  called  on 
me  for  evidence,  but  at  my  particular  request,  the 
chairman  being  my  namesake  and  friend,  and  on 
my  statement  of  the  facts,  — that  the  extra  interest 
had  all  been  returned,  that  it  was  taken  by  the 
finance  committee  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
board  of  directors,  who  had  wholly  disapproved  of 
it,  and  that  the  finance  committee  had  been  changed, 
—  no  further  action  was  had.  At  the  time  of  this  oc- 
currence it  was  generally  stated  and  believed  that  the 
distribution  of  a  million  of  dollars  in  State  Street 
would  not  have  eased  the  money  market  as  much  as 
the  "  Courier's "  article  had  done. 

Once  we  were  suddenly  exposed  to  great  embar- 
rassment by  our  confidence  in  the  honor  of  a  wealthy 
citizen.  He  had  promised  to  give  twenty  thousand 
dollars  to  a  charitable  society *  for  the  erection  of  a 
building  suitable  for  its  use,  but  had  added  as  a  con- 
dition that  an  equal  sum  should  be  given  by  others. 
As  another  rich  man  gave  assurance  that  he  would 
see  that  sum  raised,  the  first  promise  was  regarded 
as  a  certain  gift ;  and  the  munificence  of  the  donor 
was  trumpeted  throughout  the  country.  A  suitable 
estate  being  offered,  the  society  bought  it,  mortgag- 
ing it  for  the  amount  of  the  purchase-money.  But 
the  times  became  hard,  and  the  promised  donations 
not  being  realized,  it  was  resolved  to  delay  the  erec- 
tion of  the  building,  and  to  make  additions  and  im- 

1  The  society  here  referred  to  was  the  Massachusetts  Chari- 
table Mechanic  Association. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  87 

pro vements  on  the  property,  by  which  an  income 
could  be  secured.  These  alterations  and  improve- 
ments, after  using  all  their  funds,  brought  the  society 
into  debt  for  materials,  labor,  interest,  and  taxes,  to 
the  amount  of  about  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The 
purchase  and  other  proceedings  were  all  not  only 
approved,  but  expressly  advised,  by  the  liberal  prom- 
iser.  In  consequence  of  the  additional  amount  not 
having  been  subscribed  none  of  his  money  was  forth- 
coming ;  but  he  pledged  himself  that  the  whole  sum 
needed  to  meet  the  liabilities  of  the  society  should 
be  loaned  to  it  on  a  second  mortgage  of  the  improved 
property  by  a  moneyed  institution  in  which  he 
claimed  to  have  a  controlling  influence,  though  he 
said  that  the  absence  of  an  officer  of  that  institution 
would  cause  a  little  delay.  In  the  meantime  the 
workmen  and  others  demanded  payment ;  the  society 
could  not  raise  money  on  its  own  credit,  damaged 
by  the  project  of  building;  and,  in  an  hour  of  per- 
haps foolish  zeal  for  the  society's  good  name,  in 
which  we  felt  an  interest,  we  (that  is,  Crocker  & 
Brewster)  gave  our  indorsement  on  the  treasurer's 
notes  for  a  short  time  for  a  sum  sufficient  to  meet 
the  liabilities.  These  notes  were  discounted  by  the 
banks,  and  the  debts  were  paid.  This  we  were 
urged  to  do  by  the  promiser  of  the  donation  himself, 
who  gave  his  pledge  to  us  personally  that  the  money 
should  be  furnished  on  the  mortgage  in  season,  and 
that  no  embarrassment  should  be  caused  to  us  by 
our  indorsements.  His  promises  were  repeated  till 


88  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

the  day  when  the  first  note  for  ten  thousand  dollars 
was  due ;  but  after  all  not  a  dollar  was  provided  by 
him,  and  we  were  left  to  meet,  as  best  we  could, 
that  note  and  the  other  obligations  due  a  few  days 
later.  Money  was  then  (this  was  in  November, 
1847),  at  two  per  cent  a  month,  but  we  were  able  to 
sustain  our  credit  and  that  of  the  society,  and  that, 
too,  without  the  payment  of  any  extra  interest.  Here 
ended  the  connection  of  the  munificent  promiser 
with  the  society.  The  other  gentleman  having  failed 
to  raise  the  other  amount,  no  legal  claim  existed 
against  him.  Fortunately  the  estate 1  purchased 
proved  to  be  a  good  investment.  After  some  years 
we  were  repaid  our  advancements  from  the  rents 
which  have  since  added  largely  to  the  funds  of  the 
society.  We  suppose  that  many  now  believe  that 
the  promiser  really  gave  the  twenty  thousand  dollars, 
when,  in  fact,  his  unfulfilled  promise  put  in  jeopardy 
those  who  interposed  to  save  the  property  and  credit 
of  the  society. 

The  first  large  work  we  published  was  Scott's 
Family  Bible  in  six  royal  octavo  volumes.  This 
was  stereotyped,  and  I  believe  it  was  the  first  large 
work  that  was  stereotyped  in  this  country.  It  was 
a  great  experiment  for  those  days  (1820) ;  and  many 
of  the  older  booksellers  prophesied  that  we  should 
not  be  successful.  We  contracted  to  pay  the  stereo- 

1  This  estate  is  that  on  which  the  Revere  House  now  stands, 
the  estate  having  been  bought  originally  for  a  hall  for  the  Massa- 
chusetts Charitable  Mechanic  Association. 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  89 

tjper  eighty  per  cent  in  cash  each  week  for  the  work 
done,  and  the  remaining  twenty  per  cent  on  the 
completion  of  each  volume.  We  were  then  young 
and  active;  and,  having  thrown  our  all  into  this 
undertaking,  we  put  forth  all  our  energies,  and  the 
result  was  entirely  satisfactory.  Our  business  being 
extended  by  this  and  other  publications,  we  thought 
it  advisable  to  have  a  store  in  New  York  City,  and 
we  took  one  on  Broadway,  near  Maiden  Lane,  plac- 
ing in  it  one  who  had  been  an  apprentice  and  clerk 
with  us.  We  hired  the  store,  furnished  all  the 
capital,  and  agreed  to  give  him  one  half  the  profits, 
guaranteeing  to  him  at  least  one  thousand  dollars  a 
year  as  his  share.  The  partnership  was  for  five 
years.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  as  the  accounts 
rendered  by  him  did  not  meet  our  expectations,  and 
as  he  had  intimated  that  he  would  like  to  purchase 
our  interest,  I  went  to  New  York  for  the  purpose  of 
examining  his  books,  taking  an  account  of  the  stock, 
and  looking  thoroughly  into  the  business,  when,  to 
my  astonishment,  I  found  sufficient  cause  for  the 
unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs.  Our  money,  instead 
of  being  used  in  the  business,  had  been  employed  in 
purchasing  various  kinds  of  fancy  stocks  and  twenty- 
six  house-lots  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  In  con- 
sequence of  these  discoveries,  though  I  had  purposed 
to  be  absent  from  Boston  but  six  or  seven  days,  I 
was  obliged  to  remain  in  New  York  as  many  months. 
I  finally  disposed  of  the  property  to  Messrs.  Jonathan 
Leavitt  and  Daniel  Appleton,  who  were  brothers- 


90  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

in-law.  Mr.  Leavitt  had  been  a  book-binder  in 
Andover,  Mass.,  and  was,  of  course,  somewhat  ac- 
quainted with  printing  and  with  books.  Mr.  Apple- 
ton  had  been  a  dry  goods  merchant  in  Boston,  and  at 
that  time  knew  nothing  of  either.  The  business  was 
done  in  the  name  of  Jonathan  Leavitt.  After  hav- 
ing been  together  for  several  years,  Leavitt  and 
Appleton  divided  the  property,  Mr.  Appleton  remov- 
ing to  a  store  a  few  doors  distant,  where  he  carried 
on  the  business  in  his  own  name.  Mr.  Appleton, 
having  capital,  entered  largely  into  the  importation 
of  English  books  and  was  very  successful.  The 
business  is  still  carried  on  by  his  sons,  and  theirs  is 
probably  at  present  the  largest  publishing  house  in 
the  United  States.  Mr.  Leavitt  was  also  very  suc- 
cessful for  a  time,  but  subsequently  was  not  so  for- 
tunate as  his  partner.  They  have  both  deceased. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  speak  of  the  character  of  our 
numerous  publications.  We  believe  that  they  have 
done  some  good  in  the  world,  and  it  is  pleasant  for 
an  old  printer,  when  thinking  of  the  many  millions 
of  pages  that  have  issued  from  his  press,  to  know  that 
there  is 

"  Not  one  immoral,  one  corrupting  thought, 
No  line  which,  dying,  he  could  wish  to  blot." 

I  have  referred  to  one  case  of  unfaithfulness  in 
an  agent.  We  have,  however,  had  but  little  to  do 
with  the  courts  of  law,  although  there  have  been 
several  other  cases  which  would  have  fully  justified 
an  appeal  to  them.  Twice  only  have  we  found  it 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  91 

necessary  to  prosecute  the  wrong-doers,  and  in  both 
these  cases  the  frauds  were  clearly  proved  and  satis- 
factory verdicts  and  good  judgments  were  obtained 
in  our  favor.  We  were  never  sued  but  once.  The 
charges  against  us  in  that  case  were  some  of  them 
in  direct  contradiction  to  written  documents,  and  all 
of  them  were  capable  of  being  disproved  by  the  most 
positive  testimony.  After  we  had  answered  every 
charge  in  the  bill  of  complaint,  and  had  waited  long 
and  impatiently,  and  found  the  plaintiff  not  disposed 
to  bring  the  case  to  a  hearing,  we  took  measures  our- 
selves to  compel  an  early  trial,  when  the  plaintiff 
chose  to  withdraw  the  suit,  and  to  pay  all  the  costs 
and  the  balance  of  our  account  as  claimed  by  us, 
rather  than  risk  the  consequences  of  a  full  and  pub- 
lic hearing. 

For  myself,  I  have  been  contented  with  my  busi- 
ness and  family  engagements,  and  have  been  willing 
to  let  public  life  alone.  For  some  reason  or  other 
my  partners  have  not  been  willing  to  confine  them- 
selves within  these  limits.  Mr.  Brewster  perhaps 
inherited  his  zeal  for  the  good  government  of  the 
city  and  for  the  right  management  of  public  charities 
from  his  ancestor,  the  old  Elder  Brewster,  — that 
strange  but  worthy  compound  of  the  English  gentle- 
man, Dutch  printer,  Old  Colony  preacher,  ruling 
elder,  and  magistrate.  For  the  last  twenty-seven 
years  Mr.  Brewster  has  had  the  care  of  the  funds  of 
the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Mechanic  Association, 
in  which  time  they  have  increased  from  thirty-three 


92  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

thousand  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars,  reckoning  the  actual  cost  of  the  present  in- 
vestments, while  the  real  value  of  them  is  much 
greater.  He  is  president  of  another  charitable  so- 
ciety and  of  a  savings  bank,  and  has  been  an  alder- 
man of  our  city,  a  director  of  its  public  institutions, 
and  a  representative  and  senator  in  our  State  govern- 
ment. I  have  never  heard,  however,  of  his  having 
been,  as  the  elder  Brewster  was,  a  preacher. 

Mr.  Armstrong  held  the  offices  of  alderman  and 
mayor  of  our  city.  He  was  also  representative, 
senator,  and  lieutenant  and  acting  governor  of  our 
State.  His  whole  public  life  was,  I  think,  honor- 
able to  him.  Having  named  him  again,  I  wish  to 
say  that  the  whole  connection  of  Mr.  Brewster  and 
myself  with  him  was  pleasant,  and  our  mutual  con- 
fidence unlimited.  We  knew  him  intimately.  He 
was  true,  he  was  honest,  he  was  kind  and  generous. 
I  will  give  one  illustration  of  his  character.  When 
he  built  his  house  on  Beacon  Street,  he  made  a 
contract  with  a  builder  to  do  all  the  work  for  a  cer- 
tain sum.  The  builder  fulfilled  his  contract  faith- 
fully, but  it  cost  him  nearly  five  thousand  dollars 
more  than  the  contract  price,  and  he  was  unable  to 
meet  the  liabilities  incurred  by  him  for  materials 
for  the  building.  In  this  state  of  the  case  Mr. 
Armstrong  wished  me  to  look  over  the  bills  and 
vouchers.  I  did  so,  and  was  satisfied  that  they  were 
all  correct.  He  then  asked  my  opinion  as  to  what 
he  ought  to  do.  He  clearly  was  under  no  legal  obli- 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  93 

gation  to  pay  more  than  the  contract  price,  and  I  did 
not  wish  to  give  any  advice  in  the  matter ;  but  as  he 
urged  it,  I  told  him  frankly  my  opinion,  which  was 
that  he  had  better  pay  the  full  actual  cost  of  the 
house.  "Then,"  said  he,  "you  really  think  I  had 
better  pay  it,  though  I  am  not  bound  to  do  so." 
After  thinking  a  minute  or  so,  he  said,  "I  have 
asked  your  advice,  and  you  never  gave  me  wrong 
counsel.  To-morrow  is  my  birthday,  the  29th  of 
April.  If  you  will  come  to  the  office  at  eleven 
o'clock  (he  was  then  mayor  of  the  city,  and  his  office 
was  in  the  old  State  House)  I  will  give  my  check  for 
the  whole  amount,  and  you  shall  go  and  settle  it  for 
me. "  And  this  was  done.  Few  of  those  who  make 
loud  professions  of  honor  and  liberality  can  point  in 
their  own  lives  to  an  action  so  truly  honorable. 

I  should  be  glad  to  speak  of  others,  of  every  variety 
of  character  and  profession,  with  whom  we  have 
been  associated  more  or  less  intimately  during  this 
half-century  of  active  life.  But  especially  would  I 
gladly  name  many  of  the  trade,  our  brethren  of  the 
printing-office  and  book -shop,  the  dead  and  the  liv- 
ing. We  have  known  their  worth.  We  love  to 
cherish  the  precious  memories  of  the  dead,  and  we 
greatly  value  the  friendship  of  the  living.  May  our 
friends  pardon  the  numerous  errata  which  they  have 
seen  in  us,  and  let  us  hope,  in  the  words  of  Frank- 
lin's proposed  epitaph  on  himself,  that  we  may  all 
of  us  at  last  appear  in  new  and  better  editions, 
revised  and  corrected  by  the  Author. 


OF 

HON.  CHARLES  DEVENS 

BEFORE 

BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  ASSOCIATION. 
JUNE  18,  1888. 


ADDRESS. 


A  T  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument 
"•  Association,  held  June  18,  1888,  the  President,  the 
Hon.  CHARLES  DEVENS,  in  his  annual  address,  thus  re- 
ferred to  the  death  of  Mr.  CROCKER,  who  had  deceased 
during  the  previous  year. 

ME.  URIEL  CROCKER  died  at  his  summer  residence 
in  Cohasset,  on  July  19,  1887,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
nearly  ninety-one  years.  His  name  has  stood  at  the 
head  of  our  list  of  Vice-presidents  for  many  years. 
He  was  earnestly  urged  to  accept  the  position  of 
President,  especially  so  on  the  retirement  of  Mr. 
Winthrop,  but,  for  reasons  personal  to  himself,  he 
felt  it  his  duty  to  decline.  To  Mr.  Crocker  the 
association  is  under  many  obligations.  In  the  many 
pecuniary  difficulties  which  attended  the  erection  of 
the  monument,  he  was  conspicuous  by  his  exertions 
to  accomplish  the  important  work.  He  was  treas- 
urer of  the  fund  which  was  raised  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Mechanics'  Association  for  the  completion 
of  the  monument.  He  was  elected  a  director  of  this 
association  in  1833,  and  continued  in  that  position 
or  in  that  of  Vice-president,  to  which  he  was  chosen 

7 


98  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

in  1869,  to  the  day  of  his  death.  On  the  occasion 
of  the  completion  of  fifty  years  of  this  service  Mr. 
Winthrop,  then  our  President,  at  our  meeting  in 
1883  said,  and  the  call  was  heartily  responded  to: 
"I  call  upon  you  all  to  rise  and  unite  with  me 
in  offering  our  thanks  and  congratulations  to  our 
valued  associate  and  excellent  fellow-citizen  arid 
friend,  Uriel  Crocker,  and  in  expressing  the  earnest 
hope  that  he  may  long  be  spared  in  health  and 
strength,  not  only  to  this  association,  but  to  the 
community  in  which  he  has  been  so  conspicuous  an 
example  of  that  industry,  integrity,  public  spirit, 
and  patriotism,  which  have  characterized  and  distin- 
guished the  mechanics  of  Boston  from  the  days  of 
their  illustrious  leader,  Paul  Revere."  Mr.  Crocker 
was  to  live  more  than  four  years  after  this  well- 
deserved  compliment,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  health 
and  intellect.  Those  who  were  present  at  our  meet- 
ing in  1885  will  recollect  a  pleasant  speech,  contain- 
ing some  reminiscences  of  Lafayette,  made  by  him 
in  connection  with  a  quite  unpremeditated  conversa- 
tion that  arose  as  to  that  distinguished  friend  of 
America.  To-day  we  are  not  to  see  the  delightful 
smile  and  the  kind,  gracious  manner,  or  to  feel  the 
cordial  grasp  of  the  hand  with  which  he  always 
greeted  us  on  this  anniversary.  The  day  was  to  him 
one  of  deep  feeling.  It  gave  him  pleasure  to  meet 
us  here,  to  welcome  us,  as  he  often  did,  to  the  gener- 
ous hospitality  of  his  house,  and  to  converse  on  the 
great  deed  that  the  day  commemorates. 


MEMORIAL  OF   URIEL   CROCKER.  99 

Mr.  Crocker  was  born  in  Marblehead  on  Sept.  13, 
1796,  and  was  closely  related  to  General  Glover  of 
Revolutionary  fame.  He  had  received  the  best  edu- 
cation, short  of  a  collegiate  one,  which  the  academies 
of  that  day  afforded.  He  entered  the  printing  and 
publishing  establishment  of  Samuel  T.  Armstrong  in 
September,  1811,  at  fifteen  years  of  age.  Two  months 
later  there  came  to  the  same  establishment  another 
boy  somewhat  less  than  a  year  younger  than  himself, 
the  son  of  a  physician  in  Western  Massachusetts. 
I  need  not  say  that  this  was  our  honored  associate, 
Mr.  Osmyn  Brewster.  Most  cordially,  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  all,  I  am  sure,  I  welcome 
him  to  his  seat  among  us  to-day,  rejoicing  that  his 
life  is  still  spared  to  the  community  which  loves  and 
respects  him.  Between  these  boys  there  arose  that 
friendship  which  was  to  endure  to  the  end  of  their 
lives.  Reared  in  the  best  home  teaching  and  influ- 
ences of  the  New  England  families  of  the  time,  their 
friendship  had  its  solid  basis  in  the  respect  which 
each  had  for  industry,  for  capacity,  and  for  unswerv- 
ing honesty.  About  the  time  of  their  majority  they 
became  partners  with  Mr.  Armstrong,  but  soon  pur- 
chased his  interest,  and  formed  the  partnership 
which  was  so  long  and  so  well  known,  as  printers 
and  publishers.  They  were  partners  in  active  busi- 
ness from  1818  to  1876,  the  long  period  of  fifty-eight 
years.  During  these  years  there  issued  from  their 
presses  and  their  publishing-rooms  a  large  number 
of  standard  works,  almost  all  of  an  educational  or 


100  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

religious  nature.  Their  imprint  is  scattered  on 
many  thousands  of  volumes,  which  yet  are  carefully 
kept  and  treasured  in  the  land ;  but  it  will  be  found 
on  no  book  of  doubtful  character  or  of  questionable 
morality.  It  was  with  a  just  and  most  honorable 
pride  that  Mr.  Crocker  was  able  to  say,  at  a  little 
festival  commemorating  their  partnership:  "It  is 
not  for  me  to  speak  of  the  character  of  our  numer- 
ous publications.  We  believe  that  they  have  done 
some  good  in  the  world,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  an 
old  printer,  when  thinking  of  the  many  millions  of 
pages  that  have  issued  from  his  press,  to  know 
there  is 

"  'Not  one  immoral,  one  corrupting  thought, 
No  line  which,  dying,  he  could  wish  to  blot/  " 

Mr.  Crocker  did  not  confine  the  sphere  of  his  activ- 
ity to  his  immediate  business  solely.  He  was  inter- 
ested in  railroad  matters,  alike  in  those  which  con- 
cern the  business  of  Boston  and  in  those  at  a  greater 
distance.  Clear-sighted  and  sagacious,  his  abilities 
as  a  director  were  often  called  into  requisition,  and 
in  some  of  these  companies  he  served  for  many 
years. 

The  charitable  and  philanthropic  societies  found 
in  him  always  a  ready  and  helpful  worker.  It  was 
permitted  to  Mr.  Crocker  and  Mr.  Brewster  to  cele- 
brate together  in  November,  1886,  their  first  meet- 
ing as  boys,  seventy-five  years  before.  They  then 
received  side  by  side  the  congratulations  not  merely 
of  their  families  and  friends,  but  of  many  of  our 


MEMORIAL  OF   URIEL  CROCKER.  101 

most  eminent  citizens.  Since  that  day  one  has 
gone,  one  yet  remains,  and  we  trust  may  long  remain 
with  us ;  but  it  is  pleasant  to  remember,  as  to  each 
of  these  noble  veterans  on  the  well-fought  field  of 
life,  that  all 

"  which  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends," 

all  have  been  theirs. 


BOOKS 

PUBLISHED  BY  CROCKER  &  BREWSTER. 


BOOKS 

PUBLISHED  BY  CROCKER  &  BREWSTER. 


THE  following  copy  of  an  old  Catalogue,  printed  in 
1830,  will  show  the  character  of  the  early  publications 
of  the  firm. 

CATALOGUE  OF  BOOKS 

PUBLISHED    BY  CROCKER  &  BREWSTER,  BOSTON, 

AND  OFFERED  TO  THE  TRADE  AT  THE  ANNEXED  PRICES. 

MAKCH,  1830. 

Trade    Retail 
Price.    Price. 

Allan  M'Leod.  By  Charlotte  Elizabeth.  18mo. 

Bound 19  .38 

Butterworth's  Concordance  to  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
with  considerable  Corrections  and  Improve- 
ments. 8vo.  Bound 1.25  2.50 

Burder's  Sermons  for  Children.     18mo.     Bound  .         .31         .63 

Catechist,  containing  the  Parables  of  the  Unjust 

Steward,  &c.  18mo.  Bound 31  .63 

Course  of  Time,  with  an  Analysis,  Argument, 

Index,  &c.  12mo.  Boards 33  .75 

Cogswell's  Assistant  to  Family  Religion,  with 
Prayers,  Psalms,  Hymns,  Select  Harmony,  &c. 
12mo.  Bound 83  1.25 

Cecil's  Works,  complete  in  3  vols.     12mo.     Bound      3.60      6.00 


106  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

Trade     Retail 

Cecil's  Remains,  with  a  View  of  his  Character.     Price-     price- 
12mo.     Bound 44        .88 

Chalmer's  Discourses  on  the  Application  of  Chris- 
tianity to  the  Commercial  and  Ordinary  Affairs 
of  Life.  12mo.  Bound 50  1.00 

Cox's   History  of  an   Old  Pocket  Bible.     18mo. 

Bound 25         .50 

Christian's   Consolation,  or    the  Preciousness    of 

Christ  to  those  who  believe.     18mo.     Bound     .         .31         .63 

Codman's  Hymns  and  Prayers  for  Family  Wor- 
ship. 24mo.  Bound 31  .63 

Choice  Pleasures  for  Youth,  in  a  Series  of  Letters 

from  a  Father  to  his  Son.     18ino.     Bound  .     .         .19         .38 

Caroline  Lindsay,   or  Laird's  Daughter.     18mo. 

Bound 19         .38 

Conversations  on  Botany,  by  the  author  of  Con- 
versations on  Chemistry,  with  Questions,  Notes, 
&c.  By  Rev.  J.  L.  Blake.  In  pre>s. 

Douglas's  Hints  on  Missions.     18mo.     Boards  .     .        ;19         .38 

Decision,  or  Religion  must  be  All  or  is  Nothing. 

18mo.     Bound 19         .38 

Erskine  on   the  Unconditional   Freeness    of  the 

Gospel.     18mo.     Boards 38         .75 

Emerson's   Evangelical    Primer.      18mo.      Paper 

covers 08         .13 

Emerson's  Union  Catechism  founded  upon  Scrip- 
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108  MEMORIAL   OF  URIEL   CROCKER. 

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112  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

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8 


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MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  115 

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116  MEMORIAL   OF   URIEL   CROCKER. 

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SKETCH 

OF    THE 

LIFE   OF   ELIAS    HASKELL, 


BORN,  APRIL  2,  1768. 
DIED,  SEPTEMBER  8,  1857. 


ELIAS    HASKELL. 


ELIAS  HASKELL  was  born  in  Harvard,  April  2, 
1768,  and  died  in  Boston,  Sept.  8,  1857.  His 
father,  who  was  also  named  Elias,  died  in  Lancaster, 
Mass.,  on  July  2,  1811,  aged  seventy -six  years  and 
six  months.  His  mother  was  Sarah,  a  daughter  of 
Enoch  Kidder,  of  Billerica.  His  brothers  and  sisters 
were  Moses,  Betsey,  who  married  a  Mr.  Jewett,  of 
Gardiner,  Maine,  and  Sally,  who  married  Joseph 
Buffum,  of  Westmoreland,  N.  H.  His  father  mar- 
ried a  second  time,  and  by  his  second  wife  had  four 
children,  —  John,  William,  Susan,  who  married  a 
Mr.  Wood,  and  Lucy,  who  married  a  Mr.  Pond,  of 
Athol,  Mass.  His  grandfather,  Joseph  Haskell,  was 
born  in  Gloucester,  in  1698,  but  removed  to  Har- 
vard, where  he  died  in  1791.  This  Joseph  Haskell 
was  the  great-grandson  of  William  Haskell,  who 
was  born  in  England  in  1617,  and  came  to  Beverly 
in  1632,  but  soon  afterwards  moved  to  Gloucester. 

The  following  extract  from  a  "History  of  Fitch- 
burg,"  by  Rufus  C.  Torrey,  published  in  1836,  shows 
that  the  father  of  Elias  Haskell  was  at  one  time  a 


120  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

man  of  some  wealth  and  prominence:  "A  Judge 
Oliver  of  Salem  owned  a  range  of  lots  commencing 
on  Cowden's  land  near  the  Fox  House,  so-called, 
and  thence  extending  on  the  river  to  where  Phillips 
brook  unites  with  the  Nashua.  This  tract  embraced 
the  whole  of  the  village  (of  Fitchburg)  and  of  Crock- 
ersville.  He  also  owned  a  tract  a  mile  square  on 
Dean  Hill,  so-called,  in  the  westerly  part  of  the 
town.  Judge  Oliver  or  his  heirs  sold  both  these 
tracts  to  Elias  Haskell,  who  came  to  this  town  and 
built  the  house  now  owned  by  Captain  Dean.  This 
Haskell,  by  selling  lots  and  loaning  his  money,  was 
reported  to  be  very  rich,  but  he  was  doomed  to  expe- 
rience a  reverse  of  fortune;  he  was  compelled  to 
receive  his  pay  in  the  pernicious  paper  currency  of 
the  times,  which  depreciated  so  rapidly  that  it  soon 
came  to  be  but  little  better  than  brown  paper.  He 
afterwards  purchased  a  small  sandy  farm  in  the 
northeasterly  part  of  Lancaster,  where  he  lived  for 
some  years  and  died  in  poverty. "  1  The  tradition  in 
the  family  represents  that  it  was  a  sense  of  patriot- 
ism and  a  confidence  that  the  national  government 
would  meet  in  full  all  its  obligations  that  led  Mr. 
Haskell  to  take  and  keep  the  paper  money  that  finally 
proved  to  be  worthless. 

Elias  Haskell  was  married  on  Oct.  11,  1796,  by  the 
Rev.  William  Emerson,  of  Harvard,  to  Lucy  (born 
Feb.  9,  1776,  died  Feb.  18,  1861)  daughter  of  John 

1  History  of  Fitchburg,  ed.  1836,  pp.  57,  58;  ed.  1865,  pp.  64, 
65 ;  see  also  p.  92. 


MEMORIAL   OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  121 

and  Hannah  Priest.  She  had  two  sisters,  one  of 
whom,  Mary,  married  Jonathan  Sawyer,  of  Harvard; 
and  the  other,  Mercy,  married  Reuben  Whitcomb, 
of  the  same  town.  The  only  children  of  Elias  and 
Lucy  Haskell  were  Hannah  Priest,  born  July  8, 
1798,  died  unmarried,  Nov.  14,  1886,  and  Sarah 
Kidder,  born  Sept.  28,  1805,  married  Uriel  Crocker, 
Feb.  11,  1829,  and  died  Jan.  16,  1856. 

From  memoranda  left  by  Mr.  Haskell  we  find  that 
he  began  to  keep  house  on  Oct.  12,  1796,  in  a  building 
owned  by  Captain  Pollard  in  the  middle  of  the  town 
of  Harvard.  In  April,  1798,  he  moved  to  a  house 
in  the  same  town,  owned  by  Deacon  Israel  Whitney. 
On  Nov.  27,  1798,  he  moved  to  Boston,  and  lived  in 
a  house  on  Russell  Street  owned  by  Osgood  & 
Whitney;  on  Jan.  14,  1800,  he  moved  into  a  house 
on  Cambridge  Street,  owned  by  the  same  parties; 
in  1806,  he  moved  to  another  house  on  the  same 
street  owned  by  Captain  William  Kempton ;  and  on 
Nov.  23,  1823,  he  moved  into  the  house  No.  10 
Staniford  Street,  owned  by  Mr.  George  Odin,  in 
which  he,  and  his  widow  after  his  death,  resided  for 
the  remainder  of  their  lives.  He  lived  as  an  appren- 
tice with  Benjamin  Kimball  from  Aug.  14,  1784,  to 
April  2,  1789.  "  Then  let  myself  to  said  Kimball 
to  April  2,  1791. "  He  then  became  a  partner  with 
Mr.  Kimball,  and  remained  so  until  Jan.  2,  1798, 
Mr.  Simon  Whitney  having  been  admitted  to  the  firm 
on  March  28,  1795.  Thus  far  his  place  of  business 
had  been  in  Harvard  or  in  Fitchburg..  On  May  14, 


122  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

1798,  he  commenced  business  in  Boston  with  Simon 
Whitney.     This  partnership   lasted  until   Oct.    30, 

1799.  From  Nov.  5,  1799,  to  Nov.  3,  1800,  he  car- 
ried  on  business  under  the  firm  of  Stephen  Gibson 
&  Company  in  Osgood  &  Whitney's  house.     Then 
he    recommenced   business    with    Mr.    Whitney    in 
the  same    house,  and  on  Oct.  4,  1804,  he  bought  of 
Osgood  &  Whitney  for  seven  thousand  dollars  their 
storehouse   and   outhouses,   together  with  the   laud 
thereto  belonging.     In  1809  he  dissolved  his  partner- 
ship with  Whitney  and  formed  a  partnership  with 
Luther   Faulkner  under  the    style  of   Faulkner  & 
Haskell.     This  lasted  till  1811.     On  June  15,  1815, 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Francis  A.   Foxcroft 
under  the  name  of  Francis  A.  Foxcroft  &  Company. 
This  was  dissolved  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Foxcroft  on 
April  7,  1818.     On  July  30,  1818,  he  began  to  do 
business  under  the  firm  of  Haskell,  Calef,  &  Thacher, 
but  this  copartnership  was  terminated  in  1819  by  the 
death  of  Mr.  Uriah  Calef.     On  July  19,  1819,  the 
firm  of  Haskell,  Barnard,  &  Thacher  was  formed, 
which  had  its  place  of  business  on  Central  Wharf, 
and   lasted  till  July  30,   1829.     On  that  day  Mr. 
Haskell  formed   a  partnership  with    Mr.    William 
Thacher,    under  the   style   of  Haskell  &  Thacher, 
and  this  lasted  till  the  death  of  Mr.   Thacher,   on 
Jan.  29,  1831.    Finally  on  March  1,  1831,  he  formed 
with   Mr.    Frederic   Clark    the    firm  of  Haskell   & 
Clark,  which  lasted  until  Mr.  Clark's  death,  on  Aug. 
3,  1835.     He  called  Mr.  Clark  his  "last  partner." 


MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER.  123 

Mr.  Haskell  was  always  known  during  the  later 
years  of  his  life  as  "Deacon  Haskell,"  having  been 
for  nearly  forty  years  a  deacon  of  the  West  Church, 
of  which  the  Rev.  Charles  Lowell  was  pastor.  The 
business  which  he  carried  on  with  so  many  different 
partners  was  that  of  a  grocer.  He  was  a  small, 
slight,  and  active  man,  and  the  two  miniatures  on 
ivory  of  him  and  his  wife,  now  in  the  possession  of 
the  family,  are  very  good  portraits  of  them  as  they 
appeared  in  their  later  years.  His  business  ventures 
were  never  very  successful,  and  he  failed  to  accumu- 
late any  considerable  property. 


Copy  of  a  letter  from  Rev.  Dr.  Lowell  to  Uriel 
Crocker,  relative  to  the  death  of  Deacon  Haskell. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Most  deeply  am  I  grieved  by  the  sad 
intelligence  you  communicate  to  me  in  your  note  of  this 
day.  For  more  than  half  a  century  I  have  been  con- 
nected with  Mr.  Haskell  as  his  pastor,  and  for  nearly 
forty  years  he  has  sustained  the  important  and  honorable 
office  of  a  deacon  in  the  church.  Circumstances  have  led 
to  my  having  a  more  than  ordinary  intimacy  with  him 
and  his  excellent  family,  and  in  every  station  and  rela- 
tion in  life,  in  which  I  have  known  him,  he  has  manifested 
unwavering  fidelity  to  duty,  having,  as  I  truly  believe, 
the  testimony  of  his  conscience  that  in  simplicity  and 
godly  sincerity  he  had  his  conversation  in  the  world.  A 
good  man  leaveth  an  inheritance  to  his  children's  children. 
Such  an  inheritance  has  our  dear  departed  friend  be- 


124  MEMORIAL  OF  URIEL  CROCKER. 

queathed  to  his.  May  they  value  and  improve  it  as  they 
ought !  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord.  They 
rest  from  their  labors  and  their  works  do  follow  them. 
The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed ! 

Most  sincerely  and  deeply,  as  you  well  know,  do  I 
sympathize  with  my  dear  friend,  Mrs.  Haskell,  with 
Hannah,  with  you  all.  In  your  affliction  I  am  truly 
afflicted.  I  cannot  promise  myself  the  melancholy  satis- 
faction of  being  with  you,  in  person,  to-morrow.  In 
spirit,  if  so  permitted,  I  shall  indeed  be  there. 

I  have  said  that  I  sympathize  with  you  in  your  affliction. 
Do  I  not  sympathize  with  you  in  your  joy,  in  the  remem- 
brance of  those  qualities  which  rendered  him  so  dear  and 
valuable  to  us,  and  in  the  assurance  of  the  felicity  un- 
speakable, immortal,  of  which  he  is  now  a  partaker? 

Whilst  by  faith  we  mingle  our  spirits  with  the  beloved 
departed,  may  we  trace  with  our  footsteps  the  upward 
path  till  we  are  witnesses  and  sharers  in  their  joy ! 

In  haste,  but  from  the  fulness  of  the  heart,  with  much 
love  to  all. 

Your  affectionate  friend, 


CHAS.  LOWELL. 


ELMWOOD,  Sept.  9,  1857. 
Tuesday  Evening. 


THE   END. 


Z- 


